Lonely, Once
by existaential
Summary: Since she found out the truth about her father, Mizuhara Akako has hated the entitled, greedy attitude of the rich. However, when a certain Igarashi Tora crosses paths with her, their futures become inseparable. Join them as they stumble through their clumsy journey of firsts; of heartbreak, of laughter, and of love. Witness as those who were loneliest find solace in each other.
1. A Rapid Succession

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _Hello readers! It's me, E, again. (Yes, I realize I never caught up with that Kuroshitsuji fic. I'm sorry. It was a huge endeavor...it's still on my list but not a priority as of now. I think I'd better become a little more mature before attempting it again. I promise I'll be better with this one since I'm already several chapters ahead in writing it hehe)._

 _ANYWAYS: here I am again with Lonely, Once, a story centered around Igarashi Tora and my OC, Mizuhara Akako! I really liked his character in_ Maid Sama! _so I'm here to give him a good match :) I don't know if this style of writing will be a hit or not, but I'm trying to make this like a drama/anime but in a novel form. It's probably been tried before. Eh. I wouldn't know. As you might've guessed, we're going to take it slow in terms of romantic developments with this one. The characters need time to develop and realize things and yada yada yada. Only the beginning will be slow, I promise. Once it gets rolling it'll go pretty fast._

 _A note on the setting: This story is set, of course, in modern day Japan (specifically, Tokyo, although there will be some traveling going on later) and I try my very best to make the setting believable and true-to-life as possible. Which brings me to the character names: in the story you will see them spelled out as last name/first name; for example, Igarashi Tora instead of the westernized Tora Igarashi. You'll also notice that the characters won't refer to each other by first names, since that is a bit intimate among classmates. I'll leave some notes on some of lingo they use at the end of the chapter, plus some chapter extras._

 _So! I hope you enjoy this story. If you do, **hmu with a follow, a fav, and a review. If you don't, hmu all the same** lol ;). Without further ado, here is Chapter One of_ Lonely, Once _._

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 **Chapter One: A Rapid Succession**

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Miyabigaoka was called a school, but it was a luxury roost first and a place of learning second. If you froze everyone on the campus at any given school day, it would look something like this: The chef team and waitstaff would be urgently bustling around to prepare gourmet lunches served in the lofty cafeteria on the second floor, the horses would be cantering freely in the lush fields by the school stables, and the teachers might be lightly bantering in the top-floor lounge, sipping at their expensive imported coffee.

The sheer size of the building was a manifestation the grandeur that only the rich appreciated, and the interior was no different: there were polished white marble tiles and high, pointed windows; and the classrooms were so ostentatiously large that it was often difficult to hear the lecture sometimes at the front of the room. But that was how it was, because the rich were hardly ever practical. This was a school where students where family surnames carried enormous weight because it mattered how influential your parents were, where the wealthy heirs of the Tokyo elite could show off their inheritance just by showing up in class.

It was a school Mizuhara Akako absolutely hated. The students were the worst, even worse than the high pointy windows and the huge stables –– because they didn't seem to know a single damn thing about gratuity. They were always bragging about their new yachts their father had bought, the latest gadgets they owned, taking everything for granted, acting like they owned everything, and such and such,. She knew most of them hadn't even come by money through honest means, that their parents had wormed their way up the hierarchy, secretly sliding other people's money into their pockets….It was enough to make her dread every moment she spent inside the school.

She only endured it because as soon as she graduated, she was going to become a leader in the business world––more importantly, a leader who didn't slide money into her pockets. It was the most beautiful irony, using such a wealthy institution as her means to deprive them of their fraudulence. There was a larger story around her ambitions, one that involved complications around family matters….but she didn't like to think about it much since it made her angry.

Today, Akako sat at a solitary table in the cafeteria. Around the tables there was a loud chatter of students milling about, talking animatedly with their friends and classmates as they took a break from their studies.

She was alone though. She'd never had friends to talk to, either. Not that she wanted any. After transferring here from her old school, she barely spoke to anyone at all unless it was to answer a teacher's question in class. Since then, she'd had quite the reputation of being a loner, and no one seemed to bother to try and talk to her. As a general rule, most people at this school seemed to avoid her.

Maybe it was the fact that, despite what she tried, Akako had always looked intimidating, what with her dark eyes, long, glossy, black hair, and her forever-unchanging indifferent expression. Whatever the case, Akako had given up both looking and being friendly a long time ago, and the rest of the world appeared to have done the same to her.

As she bent down to take a bite of her lunch, she heard a gaggle of girls passing by her table, whispering about her in not-so-discreet tones:

"Hey, isn't that the Mizuhara girl from Class 1?"

"Yeah, that's her….she looks kinda….scary…"

"I heard her dad is a big CEO…."

"No, that can't be, 'cause she's a scholarship student…."

The girls' voices faded as they walked away from her table. Akako pretended not to have heard them and continued with her lunch, her face still void of emotion. She was used to the constant gossip about her by now, and she found she didn't mind all that much. It didn't do any her real harm, after all, and so long as the other students left her alone, she was much inclined to do the same.

Just then another voice, louder than the girls', sounded from behind her.

"Hey, newbie," a boy drawled an unpleasant, arrogant-sounding voice.

She tensed. Was he was talking to her?

"You there," he said again, "Sasaki, right?"

Akako exhaled the breath she been holding and resumed her lunch, but she couldn't help but keep listening as the boy continued sneeringly, "Can you get me something from the cafeteria line?"

The other boy, Sasaki, didn't reply.

"What, are you too broke to buy anything?" The first boy crowed.

What idiots, Akako thought readily. Just because you were born rich….

Another boy said aggressively, "Didn't you hear the boss? Go buy something, now!"

Sasaki, the one they were calling "newbie", mumbled something incoherently.

"Wait, Yuta, this is no ordinary student you're talking to…he's on a scholarship, isn't he?" The boy's jeering tone was unmistakable.

"Yeah….I am…." Sasaki looked down at his feet, shifting uncomfortably.

Akako clenched her jaw, freezing in her seat. Yuta and the other boy….bullying a student just because he was on a scholarship––?!

Just eat your lunch, Akako told herself sternly, shaking her head. Just ignore them….

"So go buy me some food then!" The boy's tone behind her had abruptly become aggressive.

There was a small whimper.

Ignore them, ignore them—

There was a sudden scraping sound as a chair skidded across the floor. Akako heard someone yelp in fear behind her as mean laughter erupted among a crowd of onlookers.

Akako closed her eyes tightly for a long moment, trying to block out their conversation. Why was this bothering her so much?

Suddenly the boy seized the newbie by the collar, forcing his face up.

"Listen, Okane*-boy—"

Akako had heard enough. She rolled her eyes and turned decisively to face the scene behind her.

"Hey!" She said loudly, slamming down her chopsticks.

Heads turned to look at her. There was quite a crowd gathered around the small table behind her, where one dark-haired boy in glasses, flanked by two other boys, had his fist raised against a trembling, scrawnier-looking boy with light orange hair and frightened eyes. Akako recognized the bully to be none other than Koganei Hirofumi, the Chess-Club President and a notorious trouble-maker. Akako had never been unfortunate enough to be on the bad end of his temper, but she'd seen what he did to people he didn't like. Now, Koganei's eyes were gleaming with malevolence as he regarded her.

"Can't anyone eat their lunch in peace anymore?" Akako demanded, scowling deeply. The boy in the chair stopped trembling and slowly turned to look at her, his eyes wide.

Whispers travelled through the crowd as people put their heads together, pointing furtively at her. She heard distinct clips of the conversation:

"Yeah, that's the one I told you about, remember? Mizuhara from Class 1!"

"I never thought she was this type of person…."

"...she was always a bit scary…."

"Oh? Who's this?" Koganei cocked a brow at her. He turned back to the boy, his face twisted in an ugly sneer. "Is she your girlfriend, Okane-boy?"

The other boy looked up in terror and he shook his head very slightly.

"Leave him alone." Akako had stood up now, and she was staring very intensely at Koganei, her eyes cold.

The crowd behind him oohed as Koganei sized her up like he was about to fight her; and Akako's face returned to its usual deadpan expression. Koganei let out a scoff of laughter, and he rolled up his sleeves, pushing his glasses further up the bridge of his nose.

"I don't know who you are, but this guy—" he gestured roughly at the other boy, "—refused to do me a simple favor. You see, I would pay for my own food, but….seeing riff-raff like this disgusts me. Penniless students who rely on other people's money don't deserve a place in Miyabigaoka."

With his face full of malignance, Koganei snatched up the boy's collar again, his fist raised as if he were about to hit the boy.

Akako's yes widened, her mind buzzing; and before she could stop herself, she rushed forward, grabbed Koganei's outstretched arm and pulled him toward her forcefully; he cried out in pain and surprise as she twisted his wrist downward, throwing him to the ground. She felt an odd rush of satisfaction as his body hit the floor with a dull _thump,_ knocking his glasses askew. He groaned loudly in pain.

The crowd gasped collectively as shocked whispers broke out among the students. Several people craned their heads to get a better look at the Koganei, who was moaning pitifully on the cafeteria floor.

"Look here, Koganei," Akako said loudly, in a harsh tone, as she seized Koganei by his jacket and pulled him upright, though her face was still –– amazingly –– quite expressionless. He looked at her with complete and utter fright in his eyes.

"You don't get to decide what 'riff-raff' aren't allowed in Miyabigaoka, alright? And don't act all proud about your money. You probably don't even know half of where it comes from, do you?"

"I––"

"Well, I'll tell you, Koganei. Big companies like yours? Your precious money is made by bullying other businesses into nonexistence, ruining people's lives, and you don't even think to find out. I'd be surprised that you're even worth half the digits in your bank account."

She let go of his jacket and he slumped back down like a bag of sand. He stayed on the ground, breathing hard, accepting his loss in the fight. Koganei's friends had dropped to the ground also, attending to him while eyeing Akako warily. She returned their stares with impassive eyes, as if daring them to take her on. They looked away quickly and returned their attention to their boss.

Meanwhile, people from the crowd seemed to have lost interest in the fight, and they began to dissipate into their respective cliques, talking fervently amongst themselves. Akako heard her name mentioned several times in various conversations, but she didn't bother to listen in this time.

She looked back at the orange-haired boy, who was staring openly at her with a mixture of awe and fear. She appeared to struggle for a moment with her thoughts, then made a split-second decision; suddenly, she grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled him out of his chair, walking at a fast pace out of the cafeteria.

"Wha—"

"Come on."

"But—"

"Just come on!" Akako pulled more urgently on his wrist, slightly impatient. She lead him out into the hallway and turned a corner into a deserted corridor. Akako stopped walking, peered around the corridor to make sure there were no stragglers from the cafeteria, then wheeled around to face the boy.

Up close, the she could see that he had round, umber-colored eyes, a pale face, and smooth, milky, skin. His hair, which was a pinkish-orange that reminded her of the color of a peach, was a little disheveled from the skirmish in the cafeteria. He was skinny, and only just barely taller than her; and from the way he slouched slightly and wouldn't quite meet her eyes, Akako guessed that he, too, was a little fearful of her.

"You're Sasaki, right?"

His eyes flicked up to hers. He swallowed and said, "Y-yeah. Sasaki Haruto, Class 3."

"And you're a scholarship student, aren't you?"

He nodded and mumbled something she couldn't hear.

"You're new to this school?"

He nodded again.

"Listen, newbie—sorry, I meant Sasaki—you should be more careful around here. Those kids back there, they've got it in for you."

Haruto stared at her, wide-eyed and serious like a deer caught in headlights. "Is it because I was accepted here on a scholarship?"

"Mhmm," Akako nodded knowingly. "Scholarship students are treated like dirt here, just because they don't have money. So steer clear of Koganei next time, okay?

"Are you a scholarship student too?"

Akako faltered, taken off-guard. Why was he suddenly asking her this? She paused before saying, "Um...yeah, I am."

"That's why you're helping me, right?" Haruto gave a small, shy smile.

Akako blinked. Why had she helped him? She didn't know; normally she wouldn't interfere in such a situation, but today, for some reason, she felt unusually fed-up. "I guess," she replied cautiously, scrutinizing the boy. Maybe it was something about how he seemed so helpless against everything. "Anyways, just remember for the future, stay away from those people."

"Okay." Haruto nodded vigorously, his eyes serious.

Akako inclined her head in affirmation. "Alright," she said, pausing to check the time on her phone. It was eleven forty-five; her next class would be starting in a few minutes. She turned to leave. "I've got to go now, Sasaki." She said finally. "Stay safe, kid." Akako began walking down the hallway.

"Wait!"

Akako spun around.

"What's your name?" Haruto asked, his umber eyes round as ever.

"Mizuhara. Mizuhara Akako."

"See you around then, Mizuhara-san!" Haruto's face broke out into a spectacular smile. The effect was transforming; his eyes were sparkling, his face radiant; he didn't seem so much like the scared, unconfident boy he was a minute ago.

Akako didn't smile back, but her gaze was a little warmer when she said, "Bye." And she turned around again, walking briskly down the corridor.

"Wait, Mizuhara-san!" Haruto called abruptly, as if he'd just remembered something.

"What?" Akako whipped around to face him yet again, now beginning to feel a little irritated.

"Um…." Haruto suddenly looked abashed, smiling shyly at the floor. "Can I….can I sit with you tomorrow at lunch?"

Akako had not expected this in the least. "Oh….um…." She hoped Haruto wouldn't expect her to be his friend; she certainly didn't want the burden of a friend, especially not at Miyabigaoka — but then she saw Haruto's hopeful expression, his bright eyes lit with expectation — so she sighed inwardly and hastily said, "Sure, Sasaki."

"Okay!" Haruto's splitting grin returned. "See you tomorrow, Mizuhara-san! And thanks for helping me out today!" He bowed respectfully and waved her goodbye as Akako disappeared around the corner of the corridor.

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* _okane means money in Japanese. Essentially, they were calling him "money-boy"._

extras:  
Akako _: "_ _I'd be surprised that you're even worth half the digits in your bank account."_  
Koganei: So...I guess that means I'm a 10/10 then?  
Akako: Shut up.  
Tora: Shut up.

LMAO I don't know if I should continue these or not XD

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Hope you liked this chapter! Please leave a fav/follow/review ;)

 _06/21/17 first draft._

 _Revised 09/17/17_


	2. A Rapid Succession (continued)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _In my personal draft of this story, this is still part of chapter one, but I felt it would've been too long (there's still about half of this chapter left to publish), so I'm breaking it down into three sections. Also, the doc manager was being uncooperative and wouldn't let me copy/paste that many words sooo...here we are, I guess._

 ** _Review replies:_**

 _Ausllybeliever:_ _Thanks so much for your compliments...I'm blushing haha. I hope you'll continue to support my story and that you'll be happy with where it leads! I see you've written some stories yourself and I'll be sure to check them out!_

 _MystearicaBlaze:_ _Thank you! Personally I like Akako's character too. I wanted to make a stronger female character because nowadays in a lot of dramas/anime, the female character is kinda weak and it makes me really anxious...and I'll keep trying with the chapter extras. Sending virtual hugs in your diretion :))))))_

 _I hope you guys enjoy this update! Tora is making his entrance, so **leave a fav, follow, and review and I'll love you forever ;)**_

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 **Chapter One: A Rapid Succession, part two**

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Igarashi Tora was sitting in his father's stark, neat office, his fingers laced together on his lap.

Across from him, sitting almost just as stiffly as him in an expensive suit (and a permanent scowl) was his father, the well-known head of the Igarashi Financial Group. He had blond hair like his son, but he kept it tidy and slicked back, and his dark amber gaze was more controlled and restrained.

No one else could have gotten Tora to be still for so long except his father. They had been sitting like this silently for at least minute, the only noise being that of the large ticking antique clock on the wall. He was sure his father was making him wait on purpose; he was one of those people who liked to feel as though they were in control, and as such, Tora was quietly going along, playing up the illusion. He was very good at that: making himself an illusion. He himself was more of an illusion than a boy –– well actually, he'd never been much of a boy. He didn't know any other boys his age who were so involved with the goings-ons of their father's companies, who were envoyed back and forth as some sort of developmental chess piece, making important deals and connections with his father's targets. That was how he'd gotten so good at illusions, because there was hardly any other way to make other people give you their money willingly.

One thing he'd learned about people from this was that they were very easy because they generally seemed to like him. It helped that he was rich and tall and had handsome features, but he owed most of it to his skill in subtle persuasion, which he used to cultivate the illusion of trust between himself and the other person. After that he could be as blunt as he wanted; and in the end, it always got to the same point. If he told someone that the best course of action was to invest all their money into his father's company, then they believed him. If he asked for any favor with a nice smile, they would do it without question.

Frankly, it was monotonous, but it happened that he and his father became somewhat of a team, working together for the benefit of the company. Their own money piled up very fast this way; soon they owned not one expensive estate but four, the luxury Italian-made cars seemed to multiply, and his closet soon overflowed with designer suits and shoes.

Everything in the world could be bought. It didn't matter if it was cars, clothes, or people. It gave him a buzz him at first but bored him most of the time else was there to do though? Nothing, it seemed.

"This is Mizuhara Akako, daughter of the CEO of Mizuhara Group," his father was saying, tossing him a file of photos and papers across the desk. "She goes to your school, yes?"

Tora flipped to one of the pictures. The first impression he got was that the girl was very beautiful; she had prominent cheekbones, a tall, straight, nose, and almost-black, almond-shaped eyes. Her hair was long, glossy, and pin-straight, with bangs cut evenly across her forehead. He was skilled at seeing those kinds of things in a girl, because he frequently liked to pick out the pretty ones in a crowd when he was bored. Then, sometimes, if he was still bored, he'd amuse himself by nodding at one of them and acting charming and all, and invite them to lunch maybe, though it was common for them to become irritating once they got too clingy. But after that he usually felt a little humored. The world was out there for his humoring, it felt like….though he very rarely felt humored.

He looked at the girl's picture again. This time he noticed her hard expression, her unsmiling lips — suddenly she seemed a lot less welcoming to him. Her eyes were cold and dark, but piercing, like they could see out of the photograph and straight into his own eyes. He briefly wondered if she might be able to see through things like illusions too.

"Yes, she goes to our school," Tora responded finally, now noting her navy blue Miyabigaoka uniform. "But I've never seen her around before."

"Well, you're going to start to," the elder Igarashi said brusquely.

"Why?" asked Tora in a slightly imperious tone. Had it been any other person sitting across from him, he might've propped his feet up on the desk and told them off rudely by now––that is, unless there happened to be other people watching. That sort of thing mattered, whether people were watching or not. But right now it was his father across from him, and Tora knew better than to get on the wrong side of him; it usually caused more trouble than it was worth.

"Because the Mizuhara Group is quickly rising to the top of the market," his father responded. "We need to make connections, and quickly, too. Their CEO, Mizuhara Hideyoshi, is evasive enough to avoid all my offers to start a networking opportunity. It is impossible, therefore, to make connections through him." His father paused, peering at him with serious eyes. "I need you, Tora. Befriend the girl. If we're lucky, I can expect dinner with Mizuhara-shi within the month."

Here he was again. He felt like he was going round and round in a carousel, watching the ever-unchanging scenery spin around him. "Yes, I understand, father," said Tora, tiredly forming a plan in his head. "I will make my best efforts." He looked at Mizuhara Akako's glaring face again. He wondered briefly what she would be like, but then he reminded himself that that was not the job he had been sent to do. He rose from his seat, taking the files with him, and bowed politely before leaving as he closed the door to the office behind him.

When he had made it back to his limousine, he dialed a number on his phone.

"Yes, hello, Katsuko-san?" Tora said, watching his father's grand office building fade into the distance.

"I wanted to make an inquiry about your foreign school….yes, I request that you relocate there as soon as possible."

The limousine fell silent as Katsuko answered from the other line.

"My father will take care of the fees….he is the board chairman, after all….just put them under his name…." Tora replied. "….yes, I understand that, Katsuko-san, but there is rather a….complicated situation right now. I want to rush your transfer. Do me a favor, will you?"

There was another silence.

"Thank you, Katsuko-san. I daresay you will enjoy your new school; it is our company's latest investment. Goodbye."

Sighing, Tora slipped the phone into his back pocket and leaned back in a tired fashion into his plush seat. So far, everything was going — predictably, boringly, uneventfully — to plan.

The next day, the headmaster of Miyabigaoka received a letter from the family of Ichijou Katsuko, stating that she had gone abroad to transfer to a school in Thailand.

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Akako took the crowded bus to the Kazoku Hospital every Wednesday afternoon after class ended, and as unusual as her day had been, what with the little skirmish at lunch earlier, and her making a new acquaintance, today was no exception.

When she entered the ward, she was greeted with a lazy, "How may I help you?"

"I'm here to see Mizuhara Ayano," Akako answered, leaning across the clerk's desk.

"Friend or family?"

"Family."

The clerk pointed her to a room down the corridor.

Her mother's room was bare and white and tidy, with only a splash of color from the flowers by the nightstand Akako brought the last time she visited.

"Hi, mom," Akako said, striding quickly to the bed beside the window and pulling her mother into a loving embrace.

People used to always say Akako looked nothing like her mother, and she could see why. Whereas Akako's face was all prominent lines and sharp edges, her mother had soft, rounded eyes and what once had been a full, ovaline face. But ever since the sickness had set in, she'd been reduced to skin and bones, her cheeks gaunt and pale, her bones brittle and her hair wispy and lusterless.

"Hello, dear," her mother said warmly, releasing her and settling back into her bed. "You've grown taller," she remarked, observing at arm's length.

Akako shook her head, smiling despite herself. "It's only been a week, mom."

"You just seem to be growing up so fast, Akako," her mom said, smiling back.

"So how's school? Did you finish with good grades again?" her mom asked kindly.

"Yeah," answered Akako. "I was rank one in the school last term." Akako smiled wider.

"Really?" Her mother seemed genuinely happy at this news. "Well, I can't say I'm surprised, with such a hard-working daughter. I'm proud of you, Akako."

"Thanks, mom," Akako said, suddenly feeling warm.

For a moment the only sound was that of the soft beeping machine in the corner.

"Did you find a new job, Akako?" Her mother said finally, breaking the long silence.

Akako stiffened. She knew where this was leading to already; she had this conversation with her mother almost every time she visited, it seemed almost pointless to answer….

"No," Akako said in a strained voice. "But I started a brokerage account at the bank, and it's doing well," she added hurriedly. "I'm making a lot—"

"A brokerage account?" Her mother looked a little surprised. "Aren't you too young for that?"

"They said the minimum age was sixteen," Akako reassured her.

"And you're not behind on your apartment rent anymore?"

"I'm catching up." Akako shifted uncomfortably under her mother's rather intense gaze.

"And all your school fees, too?"

"I'm doing fine, mom, you don't need to worry." Akako insisted. "Really, I am."

There was another pause, heavier than the last. Then—

"If you'd just let your father help out—"

"No!" Akako shouted suddenly, jumping up from her chair. "I don't want him paying for—"

"Akako," said her mother sternly, and even in her bedridden state, she seemed commanding. "You know he never meant—"

"I still don't want anything to do with him," Akako said ill-temperedly, her eyes hardening.

Her mother sighed resignedly. "You know, you two really are a lot alike—"

"We are not alike!" Akako said hotly, swelling angrily.

"If you would just talk to him—"

"No!" said Akako furiously. "I told you, I don't want anything to do with him."

"He just wants the best for you, dear," her mother said in a gentle yet firm tone.

Akako sat down again, fuming.

"And I do, too," her mother continued seriously. "I don't want you skipping meals, or — or going without electricity, or anything like that."

"Yeah, okay." Akako grumbled. "But I don't need any help, I'm paying all my bills just fine on my own. And I've got to go now, mom," Akako said, kissing her mother on the cheek. "I'll visit you next week, okay?"

"See you then, Akako," her mother waved at her from her bed.

Akako waved back, closing the door behind her as she made her way back down the corridor, out of the hospital, and into the busy street to catch a bus that would take her home.

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extras:

 _Fun Fact #1: the name of Akako's mother's hospital, Kazoku, means 'family'.  
_ _Fun Fact #2: Akako's name means 'red child'; 'aka' means 'red' while 'ko' means 'child'.  
Fun Fact #3: If you're a MaidSama fan, you probably know this already, but if you didn't, 'Tora' literally means 'tiger'._

 _Some info: I've had this in my mind ever since I started writing this story: Akako's height is about 164 cm, or about 5'4.5" in feet and inches. Tora's height is about 180 cm (according to the MaidSama! Wiki). Nice height difference, don't you think? ;)_

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 _Anyways, I hope you enjoyed reading. Hmu with a follow, fav, and review!_

 _06/27/17, first draft._

 _Revised 09/17/17._


	3. A Rapid Succession (concluded)

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _An announcement: Review replies are going to be at the end of the chapter from now on. No specific reason other than I don't want this beginning portion to get too long._

 _Anyways: This first face-to-face interaction between Akako and Tora ;) and it concludes our first chapter! (I wish I could've published it all at once instead of splitting it into thirds, but the doc manager was NOT behaving well.)_

 _ **Don't forget to fav, follow, and review! ;))))))**_

* * *

 **Chapter One: A Rapid Succession, part three**

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"I only transferred here last week," Sasaki was saying happily, slurping down a spoonful of miso noodles. "My other school was really rundown, you know. The food was terrible and everything was dusty and there was no air conditioning, either."

"Mhmm," Akako responded absentmindedly, picking at her own lunch with her chopsticks.

They were sitting across from each other at the small table Akako had sat at the day before, except she had been eating alone then. She almost regretted letting him come with her to lunch….she liked it when it was quiet; she preferred to be alone, when she didn't have the bother of making conversation.

"But this place is nice," Sasaki went on, downing the rest of his soup in one. "The building and the uniforms, and mostly everything….except the people, I guess. Well, you're okay, Mizuhara-san—"

"Geez, Sasaki, do you always talk so much?" Akako cut in sharply, giving him a smouldering stare. Haruto might've seemed innocently shy at first, but now that he'd warmed up to her he was quite the chatterbox.

"Oh...uh...sorry," He smiled sheepishly, looking down at the table.

"And you don't have to call me that," Akako added in a more relaxed tone.

"Call you what?" He said, gazing back up at her.

"'Mizuhara-san', with the honorific," she replied.

"Oh," he said, looking pleasantly surprised. "Then I guess I could call you 'Mizuhara'. We're friends now after all, aren't we?" And he smiled cheerfully at her, his face positively glowing.

Akako didn't answer.

"Anyways, I—"

"Excuse me," a pleasant-sounding voice said.

Akako and Sasaki both turned their heads to look at the source of the voice. A blue-haired, smiling boy was standing by their table, accompanied by two bulky-looking boys standing in the background.

"Pardon the interruption, but I need both of you — Mizuhara Akako and Sasaki Haruto — to come with me, please."

Akako stared for a moment, without moving; then she said, "Who're you?"

"Ah, please excuse my forgetfulness — I'm Maki Kanade, Student Council Vice President."

Akako eyed the two boys standing behind him. "Who're they?"

"They're from the Judo team," Maki replied pleasantly. "We didn't want things to get out of hand again."

Haruto made a sort of strangled squeal, while Akako chortled.

"And why do I need to come with you again?" asked Akako, turning back to her lunch dispassionately.

"The Student Council President summons you to his office," Maki replied patiently, still smiling unnervingly.

"For what?" Akako said, a little more forcefully.

"Disciplinary issues." Maki said promptly.

"Oh, wonderful," Akako said under her breath, rolling her eyes at the table. Disciplinary issues, eh? This must be because she had hit Koganei yesterday….

"Disciplinary issues?!" exclaimed Sasaki suddenly. "Maki-san, surely this isn't about the fight yesterday?"

"I believe it is, actually." Maki said. "Now, if you will just come with—"

"But — but — Mizuhara was only trying to protect me!" Sasaki sputtered indignantly. "It should only be me that's going in for disciplinary issues—"

"Oh, shut up, Sasaki," Akako said roughly, getting up from the table. "We'll just go. Big deal."

"I'm sorry about this, but I had very specific instructions from the President," Maki said, although he did not look very sorry.

And they allowed themselves to be led out of the cafeteria, Akako with her head held high, and Sasaki cowering slightly with his head down.

* * *

When Mizuhara Akako walked in through the tall, overlarge doorway, Tora's first thought was that she looked just the way she did in her picture: stunningly pretty but also very mean and unpleasant. Her eyes in real life appeared dark and burning, so that whatever she did, it always looked as if she were glaring at something. In fact, Akako seemed to be even more hostile in person because she carried that thunderous, hard gaze which simply could not be transferred into a photograph. Koganei Hirofumi, whom he had also summoned, sat still as a statue beside him, looking at Akako with a combination of fear and anger.

Another boy was now shuffling in behind Akako: he had salmon-orange hair and round, doleful eyes. At a glance, Tora could tell that he would be easy to handle. The girl, on the other hand….

In truth, he hadn't known what to think at first when Maki first showed up in his office with a disciplinary report in his hands, telling him that Mizuhara Akako, the very person that his father had asked to make connections with, had just gotten in a physical fight with Koganei Hirofumi – and won. Based solely upon this, he thought her to be reckless, strong-willed, fiercely bold, possibly even rude….a perfect recipe for trouble. And yet her student's record was also perfect; she'd finished at the top of her class last semester, her grades were in tip-top shape; she might have dreamed of becoming yet another one of Miyabigaoka's influential alumni, by the looks of where she was headed, which also meant she probably wasn't the least bit pleased with this new scar on her once-perfect student's resumé–

Then he had a sudden fantastic impulse of an idea. He now saw the vast opportunity in this, a clear way forward in executing his plan. Maybe he'd help her a little with her resumé, and maybe she'd be just so inclined to reciprocate by helping him out a little too. After all, the first thing anyone learned in business school was that mutual interests get things accomplished the fastest. And if she wasn't so inclined to help him, a big fat check probably would get the job done either way. Tora smiled to himself, now confident that the task he'd been assigned could be in the bag within the next hour. The only thing left to do now was to play the card.

"Good afternoon, Mizuhara-san and Sasaki-san," he began lightly, deciding that a friendly approach would be best for the situation. "Please, sit." The statement was not a request so much as a demand.

Akako complied, not taking her eyes off him or Koganei, while Sasaki sank slowly into the seat beside her.

"I am Igarashi Tora, President of the Student Council of Miyabigaoka. I understand you know why you are here?" Tora asked, his voice still light and cordial.

"Yes," Sasaki said nervously. "This is about the fight yesterday, right?"

Tora inclined his head to acknowledge him. "I've already questioned Koganei about the matter. According to him, Mizuhara-san, you attacked him, insulted him, and left without even apologizing. Do you deny this?"

"I do not," Akako replied in a hard voice, glaring at Koganei.

"Mizuhara-san didn't really mean to hit him!" Sasaki protested indignantly. "It was only because I — because I was being teased, that's why she had to stop Koganei-shi."

"I'm glad you brought that up," Tora said readily. "Koganei-san, it seems you are in the wrong as well."

Koganei, now red-faced and furious-looking, didn't seem to want to expand on the matter.

Tora turned to Sasaki. "Sasaki-san," he said, "how did Koganei-san offend you?"

Sasaki looked down at his hands. It was clear he didn't want to elaborate either. "He — he called me names," he mumbled shamefacedly. "Like — like 'okane-boy' and—"

"He called you names," Tora repeated calmly, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned against his chair. "And Mizuhara-san saw this as reason to attack another student?" He raised his eyebrows at her questioningly, though it was with true curiosity that he anticipated her answer.

"Usually people don't need excuses to hit ignorant jerks," she said disinterestedly, giving Koganei another deadpan yet threatening stare. Tora was torn between silent laughter and a stroke of alarm. She was much more fierce than he'd first imagined. He could foresee that this would be problematic….and yet he found himself wholeheartedly enjoying her audacity.

But then he was shaken out of these thoughts by Koganei, "Hey, who're you calling—?!"

"Look," Sasaki burst out suddenly, his eyes shining with passion as he stood up, his fists clenched by his sides, "Mizuhara-san only hit him because she was standing up for me! She wouldn't hit someone just like—"

"Give it a rest, Sasaki—" Akako hissed.

"That's all very well, but unless you have actual proof—" Tora cut in.

"Yeah, newbie, how would you know—"

"I know because….because Mizuhara-san is really a kind person!" Sasaki said, the words sounding as if they'd spilled out of his mouth.

There was a long pause as Akako stared at the other boy, her eyes wide, nothing but pure shock on her face.

"Oh, very inspiring, Sasaki," Koganei sneered, breaking the heavy silence. Sasaki sat down disappointedly, and Akako recovered from her dim shock, turning to glare at Koganei once again.

"Regardless," Tora said firmly, feeling that he ought to interject. "Mizuhara-san and Koganei-san both violated our school's strictest policies. Our school aims to create a welcoming atmosphere—"

"'Welcoming atmosphere', my ass," Akako muttered under her breath, although Tora heard her. He fought the urge to laugh aloud.

But he continued, as if he hadn't heard anything, "—where all our students can flourish, no matter their background." He paused to glance at Koganei. "As a result, this infraction will be listed on your permanently records and you both will serve a week of detention."

"But, kaichou-san—!*"

"A week—?!"

Tora silenced them with a piercing stare. "This is the school's policy, not mine. And make sure you remember the consequences next time you want to start a fight, understand? Now, I want you to shake hands."

Koganei, still fuming, stuck out his hand, first to Sasaki, then to Akako. When she took it, it looked like she was trying to crush his fingers in an iron grip, and by the look on Koganei's face afterwards, she might've succeeded.

"Good," said Tora, putting on a very convincing polite smile. "You are dismissed to class."

Koganei stormed out of the room bad-temperedly, muttering feverish words as he went. Sasaki followed forlornly from behind.

"Mizuhara-san," Tora called, just as Akako turned to leave, "I would like a word with you."

She stopped in her tracks abruptly, and he wondered briefly if the look on her face in that moment was the impassive mask that she preferred to wear, or an expression of annoyance. Then his mind snapped back to its usual place and remembered the task his father had given him.

But no, something else inside him, some old instinct told him it was too soon for him to ask after her own father just yet. She didn't trust him at all; that was clear from the moment she started speaking. He would have to wait, earn her trust, only then would it be safe for him to persist about a favor, otherwise she might go running in the other direction and never come back. This task would require time after all. He had been wrong. And he could not risk losing his chance when it stood, quite literally, right in front of him.

"Mizuhara-san," he repeated to her back, for he had made up his mind now.

She didn't answer. Suddenly he itched to say something that would make her respond to him, to see how she would react….but his rational mind quickly put this impulse down. He had a job to do.

He picked up a file from his desk and held it up as if he were studying it in the light: "'Top of the class,'" he read. "Great ambition, stunning grades, and all your teachers have written wonderful recommendations — what a shame to see such a perfect student's record ruined by a small infraction. You are in luck though, Mizuhara-san." He continued. "I—"

"Am I?" Akako whipped around suddenly, her dark eyes flashing, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "My great ambition, my stunning grades, my perfect record ruined. Yeah, I am so in luck."

"You are," Tora continued, restraining himself from laughing at her remark with quite some difficulty yet again. "Because I have a proposition for you."

A silence buzzed the air.

"I am in a bit of a dilemma," Tora went on casually. "One of my best managers on the student council has transferred to a foreign school, and she's left a gaping hole in our team. I want you to fill her position." He paused. "Mizuhara-san, would you like to join the student council?"

"No," said Akako bluntly, eyeing him distastefully. "Can I go now?"

"You may not," Tora said. He refused to be put down. "Because you see, we are both in a bit of a dilemma. I have a manager to replace, and you have a record to fix. Why don't we help each other out here? If you joined the student council, it would cancel your disciplinary infraction, Mizuhara-san." He saw her shift slightly. "You would have a clean record."

"Wow, Igarashi," Akako whistled after a long pause. "I never expected this, not even after all I've heard about you." Akako sneered, and Tora, despite himself, suddenly felt just the tiniest bit intimidated. He hadn't known what to expect when made the offer, but it certainly wasn't this….

"Not so high-and-mighty when it comes to your own business, are you?" She leered. "'Canceling out infractions', I don't suppose that's a part of the school's policy. You—"

"It is, actually," he countered evenly, although inwardly he was thoroughly enjoying the amount of nerve she was displaying. "By doing service to the school, you can annul any demerits. And if that isn't enough for you, I can write you a check — just tell me what amount—"

"I don't want your money," Akako spat, her eyes narrowing, burning intensely. "All you people, you're the same, thinking money can solve everything."

Tora's eyes widened as he was forcibly reminded of the last time someone had stood here and said something very similar. It would seem that he had been wrong about her twice over now. His interest piqued.

"And why do you want me so badly on the student council anyways?" Akako said, glaring at him.

"Because you're top of the class, clearly very smart, and an extraordinary student. It all comes back to your record, doesn't it?" he said, flashing her a quick smile. "You are just what the council needs."

He could see the gears turning in her head as she considered his words. He held his breath silently. The suspense in the air was palpable.

"Fine," she said finally, a touch of haughtiness in her voice, "I'll join the stupid council. You'll cancel out my infractions, right?"

"Yes, I'll do that," Tora said, and he was unable to contain his laughter any longer. "You don't have a problem with that, do you? Because just a minute ago—"

"You said they're part of the school's policies!" Akako snapped. "So what's—"

"No, I understand," said Tora, recovering and immediately putting on another coy smile. "Well, that's all for today, Mizuhara-san," he continued. "I'll let you go back to class now."

She didn't spare him a word as she sped out of the room, her black hair rippling behind her.

"Tomorrow will be your first day as a member of the council," he called after her. "So don't be late."

He chuckled quietly to himself. Oh, this was going to be fun, very fun….he silently thanked his father for giving him such an interesting assignment. He did not mind at all now that this task would take time when he was enjoying himself so much. He'd much rather have a month of wrestling around with her than having the job done quickly in an hour. What fun would that be? Even now, it had taken almost all his willpower to keep up the polite facade when what he really wanted to do was to see how she would put up against him, the real him….

* * *

 **Review Replies:**

MistWizard: Thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you think it's well-planned (even though I don't know what I'm doing half the time lmaoo). And welcome to the ride, I hope you'll enjoy! :))))

Sasysadist72: Thank you! And don't worry, once Tora finds out she hates her dad he won't use that kind of direct approach with her ;). Although...Akako might get mad at him all the same haha. But I hope you'll stay with this story! And about the updating: This is probably the last time I'm updating three weeks in a row. After this, it'll probably be once a month – that is if the doc manager fixes itself. The surest way to not miss an update would be to follow the story hehe (shameless self-promo)

AusllyBeliever: Yep! She definitely will.

* * *

 _*kaichou-san is the respectful way to refer to the president._

extras:

Akako: _"Why do you want me so badly on the student council anyways?"  
_ Tora: I want you badly, period. XD  
Akako: _**glares  
**_

 _(IT'S TOO SOON FOR THAT, TORA!)_

* * *

Hope you liked this chapter! Leave a fav/follow/and review :)

 _06/30/17 first draft.  
_ _Revised 08/04/17_


	4. The Challenge

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _Hiya, everyone! This chapter should give you all more insight on everyone's characters. Not much else to say...but **leave a fav/follow/review.** I really do reasure your reviews, whether it's criticism (in my opinion it's probably the best way to improve my writing) or simply your thoughts on my story. So hit up that review section ;)_

 _Alright! That's all for now. See you in September! Feel free to pm me anytime._

* * *

 **Chapter Two: The Challenge**

* * *

As a child, Akako had always gleefully anticipated her father's returns from his long business trips to foreign countries. Hours before his plane was due to land in Tokyo, Akako and her mother would work happily in the kitchen of their large mansion and prepare a feast to welcome her father, all the while guessing at what new gadgets and gifts her father would bring back from his trip.

And when he arrived at the house, he'd scoop her up in his big arms and say, laughing, ' _How's my little Aka-chan?'_ He would swoop down to kiss his wife on the cheek: ' _I've missed you, Ayano.'_ And they would giggle all through dinner, after which her father revealed his souvenirs.

' _Papa bought a miniature airplane, this time, Aka-chan. Do you like it?'_

And Akako would laugh and say, yes, she loved it, but she would much rather her father stay home instead of go abroad. The three of them lived contentedly like this for a long time, in their large manor house, in the bright, golden years of Akako's childhood.

And then, soon after Akako had turned sixteen, everything began to fall apart.

She remembered very clearly what the doctors had said when her mother fell ill that winter, when she had collapsed, rasping for breath, on the floor of her bedroom.

' _Her lungs don't work properly,'_ the doctors told a panicking Akako. _'It's something that can't be fixed in very short amount of time. Have you been paying attention to her health lately?'_

 _'N-no,'_ Akako had said, very distressed and on the verge of tears. _'Because I'm at boarding school, I c-can't — I can't take care of—'_

 _'That's alright, dear,'_ the nurses had said then, leading her out of the room. _'Your mother needs rest now. We'll call you when she wakes up.'_

So Akako had returned to her large, empty house alone that night and slept very badly, her pillow damp with tears.

The next morning when she went to visit her mother, she found her father in the room as well, standing by the bed. Akako had rushed in, hugging her father tightly and sobbing into his shoulder. 'W-what are we going to do?' She cried, her face streaming with tears. Her father didn't answer her then.

Later that day, when they had returned to the house, Akako overheard her father making a phone call in his study. He was speaking in a voice she didn't recognize: it sounded nasty and very threatening.

 _'Now, Yamamoto-san, at this point you've become more of a liability rather than an asset. If you don't do as I say, I will personally come to Osaka and drop your entire branch. Do I make myself clear?'_

A panicked voice came from the other line. ' _What? But, Mizuhara-san, I can't afford to lose my job! I—I've got two sons to send through school—'_

' _That's enough, Yamamoto-san. I will be flying there tomorrow.'_

Akako stood, transfixed in horror, at the conversation she'd heard. How could her father, who was always warm and kind, cut that many people off from their jobs? What an awful, cruel, harsh thing to do…. And he had come out of his study, smiling at her as if nothing was wrong…

 _'Papa will be flying to Osaka tomorrow, Akako. You take care, alright?'_

 _'How can you say that?!'_ she'd shouted furiously. _'Don't you understand how many people's jobs would be lost, how many people's lives would be ruined?! And what about Mom, who'll look after her?!'_

Her father had stopped dead in shock; obviously he hadn't known that she'd overheard his conversation. _'Now, Akako,'_ he said slowly, after a long pause. _'That's just the way business works. I wouldn't expect you to understand. If I didn't do this, my company will lose money. I have to go.'_

 _'Is that all you care about?!'_ she yelled. _'There are more important things than money!'_

And she didn't know how, or why, but suddenly she felt very, very angry at him. _'IT'S YOUR FAULT!'_ she screamed at him suddenly, tears pouring down her face, and she had to restrain herself from throwing herself at him. _'You — you're never home to take care of her — always away on trips — do you care more about your stupid company than Mom?!'_ she yelled, her voice hoarse, her eyes red and puffy.

The next time Akako had visited the hospital, she told her weak mother that she had moved out into her own apartment, she'd found a job at a local grocery store, and she didn't want her father paying her bills anymore, and lastly, that she would be transferring to Miyabigaoka High School after being offered a rare scholarship.

 _'Don't you think you should go talk to your father?'_

 _'No,'_ Akako had said stubbornly. _'I won't.'_

And her mother, sensing that nothing she did could change that at the moment, abandoned the subject.

 _'And why are you working so hard at school, all of a sudden?'_ her mother had asked.

 _'Because I'm going to become a top CEO when I graduate,'_ Akako said grimly. _'But I won't be backstabbing or greedy. I'll do good things, not bad things. I'm going to show the world what a real leader should be like….'_

* * *

Now, Akako took her seat at the table during the student council meeting, where she remained motionless, surrounded by the uneasy-looking members of the student council.

"Please welcome our newest member, Mizuhara Akako."

Faint murmurs sounded from around the table.

"She will be filling in for Ichijou-san as funds manager," Tora continued. "I believe she is more than worthy for the job."

Akako watched him carefully as he stood at the head of the table. Grudgingly, she noted that he was very good-looking; he had the kind of striking face and composure that would make you turn and look twice if you walked past him on the street. His light blonde hair was neatly cut and his bangs were parted on one side over his pale forehead to an effortlessly messy-but-neat effect. His eyes were strikingly honey-yellow colored, and together with his eyebrows, they slanted upwards slightly, giving him the look of a very shrewd and keen cat. He carried himself with a casual sort of grace, with easy confidence and self-assurance, like there was not a single thing that could stand in his way.

He was smiling right now, a sort of falsely polite smile that showed his perfectly straight white teeth, although his canines seemed a bit sharp (or perhaps that was just her imagination). She couldn't help thinking disdainfully that it was a pity that such a handsome face was wasted on such a superficial personality. She could tell that every minute he was in her presence or in front of the student council, he put on the perfect airs of a considerate gentleman, all the while hiding his true character. It gave her a bad feeling, like the other side of him was so unpleasant that it ought to be hidden away. She had yet to see it surface. The thought of it made her shiver slightly.

"Now, to continue on with our meeting–" Tora pulled out a file and turned on the screen projector. Instantly the murmurs around the table ceased as Tora stood; it was evident the members of the council respected him a great deal.

"Miyabigaoka's swim team has been accepted to the national swimming competition this coming spring," Tora began, gesturing lightly toward the screen, which was displaying a diagram of a construction plan. "Naturally, we would like to accommodate them. The school board is currently thinking of renovating our swimming pools and would like us to handle it."

There was a skittish round of muttering at the table.

"The pools we have now, are, of course, of the best caliber in terms of quality, however the team has been requesting an update for quite a while, and I think now is a most opportune time to acquiesce."

A boy with black hair and round glasses raised his hand interjected, "Kaichou-san, how much will the renovation cost?"

"The board estimates about one and a half million yen*."

Akako's attention snapped rapidly to him, shock rippling through her. That much money could probably feed a person for a whole year….There were some audible gasps from the council too, and the mutterings increased in intensity.

"Of course, the funds and construction work will be supplied by the board–"

"No, they will not." Akako interrupted suddenly, raising her eyes to meet Tora's. This was excess. Why were they willing to spend that much money on a simple renovation? The way she saw it, that one and half million yen were better off in charity, where it would actually make a difference. The murmuring around table stopped rather abruptly and his citrine eyes traveled slowly across the room to meet hers.

"Do you have a problem with this arrangement, Mizuhara-san?" Tora asked, hoisting a polite smile onto his face.

"I don't approve of the board's decision of hiring a company for this." said Akako, with her head held high and the usual removed expression gracing her features.

A silence fell as all the members of the council turned to look at Akako.

Tora was the one who spoke first, "I'm sorry, Mizuhara-san, but there is no alternative–"

"Of course there is," Akako scoffed, rising from her seat. "I'm the funds manager, aren't I?"

Out of the corner of her eye Akako saw people putting their heads together and whispering feverishly once again.

"Mizuhara-san, I fail to see your problem with our choice in the construction company. It is a branch of my father's conglomerate, and I assure you only the finest quality–"

"Well you see, that is precisely the problem with your arrangement, Igarashi."

All around the table jaws dropped and eyes widened. Even Tora looked a little taken aback. No one had dared call the president by his name before, without even so much as an honorific. And now this newcomer stood here, questioning his authority, and taking matters into her own hands.

"I believe," Akako continued seamlessly, ignoring the other students' blatant shock, "We should work to achieve our own ends with this project. From what I see, there doesn't seem to be much work that needs to be done. The plan outlines only a re-tiling of the floors and sanding down the rough concrete in the pools. There's no reason to spend money hiring a company to do this for us when we could simply do it ourselves. What we need first are volunteers–"

"Excuse me, Mizuhara-san," Tora interjected, his voice with an edge to it now. "I must remind you that I am the president of the council, and it is my wish that we hire the Igarashi Co–"

Akako let out a harsh laugh. His reaction had been nothing less than what she'd expected. "Of course. To you wealthy people, money must be so easy, so dispensable…." she continued bluntly, "It's made you lazy and inconsiderate. Have you gotten so used to having everything spoonfed to you, that you balk at every obstacle? Have you been so pampered that you forgot what it is to work? You'll have to learn, all of you, how to do something for yourselves. I'll make you realize the true value of the money you so casually throw away at your whim."

Akako sat down forcefully, crossing her arms. "And if your President Igarashi won't agree to this," she shot him a blazing glare, "then I'll lock up the funds. "

There was dead silence.

"Very well," Tora said slowly, breaking the silence. "I am willing to entertain your request for the students themselves working to refurbish the pools."

Murmurs broke out around the room.

"You can be the one to supervise the others for this job. I'll give you….until the end of next week to get it all done."

"A week?!" A sinking feeling pervaded her stomach. One week. She glanced anxiously at the complex diagrams displayed on the projector screen. There were eight pools in total, eight full-sized 20 by 40 standard pools that needed to be refurbished. Even for a fully equipped professional team, this job would take three, maybe four weeks at the very least. But all she had now were the other members, who were now sitting dumbfounded and placid in their seats, and she found herself hoping wildly that they would perhaps jump out of their silence to support her. Akako swallowed, her throat dry, trying to mask her apprehension. "A week…." she repeated numbly, "That's barely–"

"You dug yourself into this hole, Mizuhara-san," Tora smiled, shrugging casually as he ran a long finger down the sides of the folder he was holding.

The sinking in her stomach was abruptly replaced by a boiling of anger. So, that was what it was….this task, the first task she had taken upon for the council, was set up for a sure failure. There was no question as to why. Because in the midst of all the members of the council, she alone had chosen to speak up against him. And now she was being punished for it. Really, she shouldn't have expected anything else from the son of the one of the wealthiest business leaders in the nation. They were all the same, the rich, thinking that everything and everyone was theirs to control just because they had money. She clenched her fists at her sides.

He continued, "If you are unable to complete this task within the time frame, I'll have to call on my father's company to–"

"No, I'll do it." A hard look had come over her eyes. If he wanted a show, she'd give him one, and make him see exactly who he was reckoning with. "I accept your terms, Igarashi," Akako said in a ringing voice, so that all the attention in the room turned to her. She raised her chin and regarded the students around her, praying that her next query would not come to silence. "So, which of you will volunteer with me to renovate the pools?"

The whole council sat motionless, their mouths agape.

"Is there no one?" she demanded, inwardly panicking.

Still, no one spoke.

"Fine," Akako said readily, a steely sense of cold purpose filling her senses. "I'll do it myself." She glanced quickly at Tora, who was smiling back at her like he'd already won. The anger returned fiercer this time; and right then and there, as she stood glaring into his infuriating citrine eyes, she made a burning promise to herself: there was no way she was failing this task, even if the odds were stacked against her. She would prove them all wrong.

She snatched up a copy of the diagrams that were laid on the table. A girl sitting across from her flinched nervously at this, but Akako paid her no mind.

"I'll do it all myself."

And she walked out of the room.

"Everyone, this meeting is dismissed," said Tora quickly, his eyes glued to the door through which Akako had departed. "You are free to go."

The talking resumed quite suddenly as the students began packing away their things and chattering madly.

"...did you hear that?!"

"...who does she think she is? Kaichou-san must be upset."

"...is she actually gonna make us do everything?"

"...There's no way. I'm not going to spend my day scrubbing the floors."

Their echoes faded away as Akako made her way down the hall, clutching the file folder so tightly in her hand that her knuckles were white. She hadn't made it far when she heard a voice:

"Mizuhara-san, I need to speak with you."

It was Tora, standing at a door across the hallway. Akako turned, the sensation of burning anger returning.

"In my office, please." He gestured at the door, and, having walked there himself, held it open for her. Silently, she steeled herself for the worst and walked quickly past him through the open door.

But what struck her first was the surprising neatness of his office; it was agreeably devoid of clutter and his desk was bare of any decoration but for a shiny plaque that read, 'Igarashi Tora, Student Council President'. A pile of papers sat untouched on the corner of the table, waiting to be signed. There was a large window on the side of the wall that overlooked the expanse of trees surrounding the school, allowing the late-afternoon light to pour into the office.

"Is that why you turned down my offer earlier?" Tora said as he closed the door behind him.

His question caught her a little off-guard. She didn't say anything and glared at him instead, her eyes following his path through the door.

"Yesterday, when I offered you a cheque," Tora persisted in spite of the silence, a smile playing on his lips. His citrine eyes looked amused yet unreadable. Akako frowned imperceptibly. For some reason, he didn't seem to be the least bit scared of her, when most other people she'd encountered would've been long gone within the first second of that glare.

Her expression darkened. "I told you, I don't want your dirty money."

"You are a stubborn one, aren't you?" said Tora, smiling even wider at her response, eliciting a spark of annoyance from within her. "But tell me, I'm curious…." His eyes were glinting. "If you hate this dirty money so much, why are you at this school? That seems like quite a large contradiction, don't you think?"

"You don't get it." It was her turn to smirk now. "I'm here because I'm going to graduate and I'm going to lead a business the right way. I won't use underhanded cowardly tactics like all of you," she said, her voice filled with contempt, and she was boiling with hatred. She narrowed her eyes. "You'll see, Igarashi. One day I swear, I'll bring you all down. Just wait."

He didn't seem particularly frightened by this predicament ."Ah….and that's also why are you so bent on antagonizing me?"

"Someone has to," said Akako bluntly. "I can't be the only one who can't stand people like you."

"You are a stubborn one, aren't you?" said Tora, smiling even wider at her response, eliciting a spark of annoyance from within her.

She saw his eyebrow twitch slightly at this, and for a moment she was sure he was going to lunge forward and do something to her. But then he blinked and his face was a smooth cloak of calmness once again.

"Then I hope you are aware of the scope of the endeavor you have taken upon. Realize that you are at my mercy here," he continued, smirking and taking on a more sinister tone, and suddenly she felt slightly intimidated by his form. "I chose to let you do this, don't forget, and if you don't meet the requirements then I am free to continue how I choose. Do you understand?"

"Of course," said Akako harshly, her fear melting away with a fervent desire to smack the smirk off of his face, and she remembered the promise she had made during the student council meeting. _I'll do it myself._ "Believe me, I can handle this. So don't interfere with my plans."

And she walked out again, leaving him standing there in his bright office, with a predatory smile on his face.

* * *

Tora stood there a long time, and her last words, the image of her dark scorching eyes with her silkily straight bangs played on repeat in his brain. But of course he had absolutely no intention of interfering just yet. He wanted to see how long she would last against him, how long her stubbornness would persist before she burned out, to see if she could be of any interest to him. For now, he would let her work herself to the bone if she wanted to. Let her do what she will, he thought bemusedly. In the meantime, he might as well just enjoy the show.

* * *

The weather was warm outside as Akako departed from the looming campus of Miyabigaoka; large white clouds dotted the brilliant blue sky above the city, and a light breeze lingered in the air, bringing a promise of the imminent beginning of autumn. A younger Akako would have seen this day as an opportune time to take a nice walk outside with her mother and father, but presently she only thought of starting on her most recent project immediately.

It was as she'd said in the meeting: the updates to the pools were simple enough, all they required was manpower….something she did not have. And yet it was too soon to give up. She couldn't just let Tora order her around, make her throw away all the things she valued most….like her steadfast belief that money was never the answer to everything. But she quickly pushed this to the back of her mind. Right now, she had to focus on getting home to do the research she needed in order to start as soon as possible.

And so Akako sat waiting alone at Miyabigaoka's bus stop in silence, tapping her foot absentmindedly as if she was attempting to draw the bus out from the distance with its noise. The small space in the stop was quiet now and thankfully free of people, because the school was separated from the rest of the city by an expansive forest-park. The students rarely ever took the bus either, preferring instead to call up their own private chauffeurs. Akako stared vaguely into the distance, and the sound of tree branches swaying in the breeze and the soft song of twittering birds was just distinguishable over the distant, muted roar of the Tokyo city.

A few stops down the road, however, and the atmosphere changed completely.

It was here, a couple of kilometers away from the school, where Akako usually departed the bus at the busy intersection just off of Shibuya Crossing. Here was a bustling collection of restaurants and cafés lining the streets, with huge faces of famous idols and models plastered onto sides of tall buildings. Bright sunlight glanced off of the vast facades of glass towers, and the stores' lights were flashing garishly onto the street; masses of people crowded the sidewalk, each one of them rushing to their own destination. The smell of fried food and livelihood filled the air, and the noise of the city, the noise of cars and hurried conversation and the rush of polished shoes on the pavement, were so deafeningly loud they passed unnoticed. Already, high school students, who, like Akako, had just been released from school, were lining up at their favorite getaways, laughing with their friends. She walked past some of her classmates, still in their school uniforms, giggling together as they each sipped their iced drinks.

Akako stopped at a convenience store on the corner of the street to buy her week's supply of instant ramen and breakfast pastry. She shopped here so frequently that she was quite sure the owner of the store, Mr. Saito, would be able to recognize her on sight. She quickly picked out her preferred brand of ramen (extra-spicy), a loaf of plain bread, and, because she had a little cash leftover from the month's payment, a couple of ripe-looking apples. She paid, thanked Mr. Saito, and left the store for the busy street.

The sun was lower in the sky now; the light was taking on a softer, golden shade, giving everything a hazy look. A queue was forming at the bus stop nearby, where Akako had to catch another bus to get to her small apartment complex just east of central Tokyo. This time she waited with strangers at the bus stop; but still, it was quiet. They did not greet each other, nor meet each other's gaze, nor try to strike conversation. Each person cared naught for any other, thinking instead of their lives far removed from the denseness of the city, so that even in a place so full of life, in a place that was bubbling with the sound of laughter, in a place that was loud, and boisterous, and bright, with thousands of people in a kilometer radius, one's own loneliness was enormously intensified.

The bus ride home was quiet. Akako passed the time by looking out the window, watching as crowded streets and stop-lights slid by her vision. The fading sunlight flashed upon her face every now and then, intermittently illuminating her features in a golden glow.

When she arrived home, she set down her schoolbag and sorted her newly-bought ramen and bread into the pantry. Her apartment, on the third floor of 309 Chiyoda Avenue, was humble and simple: there was a small kitchen with a breakfast table; just across from that was a very modest living room, where Akako kept endearing photos of herself and her mother on a picture shelf attached to the wall. Akako's room was just behind a door leading from the living room; inside, her bed was made neatly, and her desk was tidy. A petite black bookshelf leaned against the wall; on its shelves were the various books she had liked growing up and textbooks she used for studying. There was a bathroom adjacent to her room, with a very small shower stall.

The size of the apartment was somewhat made up by its starkness. All the walls were painted white, as they had been when Akako had first moved in, and nearly all the furniture, like the couch, the shelves in the living room, and the table in the kitchen, were black. All of Akako's meager possessions were sorted away in her room, leaving the rest of the apartment quite empty.

That night Akako sat down at her desk with her laptop (which was her sixteenth birthday gift from her mother), and began her long research on reconstructing pools and floor-tiling.

* * *

Review replies:

AusllyBeliever: Yes he is! He's trying very hard to be careful, since Akako is someone he needs on his good side (although I'm not sure if he was ever on her good side haha) for business at this point in time

* * *

 _*1.5 million Japanese yen is about 15,000 USD._

I apologize, I have no extras for this chapter! Please look forward to more next month. :)

* * *

 _08/03/17 first draft._

 _Revised 09/17/17._


	5. Stalemate

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** _So I know I said I'd see you in September, BUT there has been a slight change in plans: I have gotten unexpectedly ahead (unheard of, I know) and wanted to release this chapter. In other news: I have an exciting update for you all. I've decided that the first concept song for this story is_ Newton _by_ MONSTA X! _(Any Monbebes here?) I've put the link, as well as an explanation as to why I chose this song, in my profile. Be sure to check it out ;)_

 _Thanks to everyone who's shown support for this story. I see I've gained some followers, and I love you all. Please continue to support me! Review replies are at the bottom of the chapter. Hit me up with a fav, follow and review after you're done reading! :))))_

* * *

 **Chapter Three: Stalemate**

* * *

The next day Akako woke with a pounding headache, having slept no more than four hours the previous night due to her extensive research on the reconstruction of the the pools. And so it was with great annoyance at lunchtime that she looked up to see Maki Kanade standing over the lunch table she and Sasaki shared, a very convincing polite smile on his face.

"Ah, there you are, Mizuhara-san."

She frowned ill-temperedly. "What do you want now?" Akako said irritably, picking at her food. Really, was it going to be like this the rest of the time she was on the council….? She didn't know if she could stand being pestered like this day after day.

Maki smiled coyly and continued, "I thought that our newest member of the student council should meet some of Miyabigaoka's elite group–"

"Eh?! I didn't know you were part of the student council, Mizuhara-san!" Sasaki exclaimed, wide-eyed, his gaze flicking back and forth between Maki and Akako.

"I wasn't, until yesterday," Akako scowled, putting down her chopsticks reluctantly. "Thanks to Igarashi, that idiot."

Just then a nasally voice piped up, "Wow, you've got guts."

A girl had stepped out from behind Maki, a smirk on her face. For whatever reason, she was carrying a large brown teddy bear, almost the as big as her, in her arms. She seemed to be about Akako's age; and with her light-colored hair cut short just above her ears, she had the look of a mischievous pixie. This was furthered by her eyebrows which slanted upwards and long lashes that framed her cunning eyes.

"Maki-san, are you just gonna let her call you that? I bet no one's ever insulted kaichou to your face before." The girl's eyes sparkled playfully. Akako twitched, feeling slightly put off by this new girl standing before her with an oversized teddy bear.

"Mizuhara-san, meet Umekoji Kaon, a member of our elite group."

But Kaon, largely ignoring Maki, was leaning across the table to get a better look at Akako.

"Maki never told me you were this pretty," she said, squinting as she examined Akako's face carefully. "Although you do seem a bit scary at first…."

Akako was not listening; instead she had been recalling to mind the name "Umekoji". She had read about their family's conglomerate before in some news clipping, and if her memory served her correctly, the Umekoji Toy Manufacturing Co. owned at least a hundred foreign factories whose workers were devastatingly underpaid. She supposed it was only natural for this sort of folk to be prowling the halls of a school like Miyabigaoka.

Kaon, oblivious to Akako's inner thoughts, had gone on talking,"...you know, you should meet with our Yi-Hua–"

But now, another figure had stepped out from behind Maki; this time it was a boy, wearing a bandana over his eyes.

"Now now, Kaon, don't scare off our newcomer." Akako noted that his voice carried the same nasal qualities as Kaon's, although it was much quieter and less obnoxious.

"Ah, and this is Tomu Umekoji, Kaon-san's twin brother." Maki said, still smiling pleasantly. "They are the grandchildren of the leader of the Umekoji Toy Manufacturing Company. And seeing as your father is the leader of the Mizuhara Group, you all should get along nicely."

At this, Akako let out a scoff of derisive laughter. "Let's be clear, I am not my father's daughter."

There was a pause.

Then Maki said sharply, "What do you mean?"

"I mean," Akako began, her eyes burning, "that as of a year ago, I chose not to associate myself with him or his company any longer."

"So you've been disowned?" said Kaon interestedly. "Or rather, you disowned yourself?" Tomu shot her a glance, to chastise her for her forwardness once again.

"I suppose you could say that," Akako replied after a tense pause.

Maki's brow creased almost imperceptibly.

"You gave up all your money?" said Sasaki, his eyes wide and practically shining.

Akako didn't answer; instead she picked up her utensils and began eating again.

"I had no idea Mizuhara-san was so strong…." Sasaki said, more to himself than to anyone else.

"Well," Maki said abruptly, "I think I'll go now."

"So soon?" Kaon pouted. "Won't you stay a bit longer? We only just got here."

He cleared his throat loudly, and Akako could've sworn there was a small flush in his pale face. "Certain matters have arisen that require my attention. I'm afraid I must go and make a report to the president. I'll be in the student council office if you need me." And he walked out of the cafeteria.

Meanwhile Kaon had eagerly pulled up two chairs for herself and Tomu, and with her head resting in her hand, was observing Akako with interest.

"Why did you cut off ties with your father?" Kaon asked.

"That's none of your business." Akako answered through gritted teeth, finding herself increasingly annoyed at the other girl's chattiness.

"You must be smart if you got into Miyabigaoka without any money." Kaon remarked.

Akako didn't reply, continuing to attack her lunch with perhaps a little more gusto than was necessary. All the while, Tomu was watching silently, his expression unreadable under the bandana he wore. Sasaki particularly seemed wary of him; his gaze kept flickering back to Tomu's covered face, and he scooted his chair further away from him as if to keep a safe distance.

"I hear you're taking charge of refurbishing our pools," Tomu said. "The vice president tells me you're quite determined….This'll be the first time we don't use school funds, won't it?"

Akako nodded silently, hardly surprised at all at how the news had traveled so fast.

"Well, to be blunt, the situation you've launched yourself into is pretty much an impossible one," Tomu said, smiling. "It's easy to think you can do anything, but reality will hit hard, you know."

"Yeah," Akako said noncommittally. That might be how Tomu saw it, but she already had a plan, and she'd said all those things in the student council meeting….it would be most un-Akako-like of her to back down now.

"Hm," Kaon said, smiling impishly after her brother, "we'll see how you'll do. It's probably kaichou-san's way of testing you. He'll have to see what kind of person you are, if you're worth his interest…."

Akako scowled, nonplussed. "People must be like games to him."

"It's true," Kaon agreed, nodding. Then she leaned in closer and said, "Unless….Mizuhara-san, are you one of kaichou-san's new girls?"

The table froze. Akako sputtered a little and said, "I'm sorry, what?"

"You know," Kaon persisted, "those girls that he pays to be with him….in his limousine, when he gets–"

Sasaki gasped abruptly, choking on his soup, his face beet-red.

"That's disgusting," Akako said, her usually-impassive face betraying just the slightest bit of distaste. She closed her eyes hard, scrunching up her brow in reaction to a sudden invasion of unwelcome images to her mind.

"Oh," said Kaon disappointedly, sinking back into her chair. "Well that's not very exciting."

Tomu chuckled quietly. "Forgive my sister," he said. "She can be a little overbearing at times."

Sasaki, cleared his throat, recovering from his embarrassment, and said, "That's alright. I'm sure we'll be okay with it. Right, Mizuhara-san?"

Akako did not answer once more, feeling that if she were to talk, she might brutally insult the Umekoji twins and end up in another tight spot afterwards.

There was a long silence, perforated only by the sound of Sasaki zealously slurping his noodles. Then, Kaon's high, nasally voice burst out once more,

"What's it like being poor, anyways?"

And it took all of Akako's will to restrain herself from punching Kaon across the face.

* * *

But it was that afternoon that Akako's true challenge began; after school had ended, she went to the now-drained swimming pools and took out a large toolbox that carried a hammer, a flat chisel, and a set of concrete grinders. Last night she'd hardly slept at all, investigating the procedures necessary to carry out the task she'd been assigned. It was not as simple as she'd imagined. The re-tiling would require time, because it required that she break down the existing tiles, smooth down the surface once again, and lay down new tiles in the old ones' place. Having lowered herself into the empty pool, she set to work immediately, getting down on her knees to begin grueling labor of pounding into the old tiles, chipping them off in large pieces to reveal the bumpy cement underneath.

She left long after night descended, feeling drained. She hadn't imagined that refurbishing the pools would take so much grueling effort. But all it took was a reminder of the words Tora had spoken and the vow she had made to herself just a few days prior to get her fired up again. What was it he'd said? 'You are at my mercy here.' But I will not give in to the likes of him, she thought vengefully. If this really was a test, like Kaon had said, she'd do everything she could to prove him wrong.

The next days were the same; she soon developed a habit of taking the toolbox with her to school and packing an extra change of clothes to change into while she worked. By the end of the second day, she'd managed to break off most of the tiles on the pools, having stayed nearly the whole night at the school, only returning home to take a quick hour-long nap and shower, and take the bus back to school. On the third day after school, she began using the concrete grinders at last, sanding over the rough floors and walls of the pools. But after the fourth day, the exhaustion seemed to be really getting to her. Her limbs felt as if they were filled with lead, and her head pounded from continuous nights of sleep deprivation.

The vow, she said to herself. Even in her own brain, her voice sounded tired. Remember the vow.

And so, she toiled on.

* * *

After class had ended, Tora was found sitting motionless at his desk, his fingers laced together, ruminating on the possibility that he would not be able to satisfy his father's original request for relations with Mizuhara Hideyoshi. He half-wished it weren't true, but he knew better than to doubt the fact; it was Maki who'd told him that Akako had cut off ties with her father, after all. But if he couldn't find a way to get to her father then his own father might disown him. The question was, how could he get through to Hideyoshi?

His original Plan had looked like this:

Step One: transfer her onto the student council.  
Step Two: gain her trust.  
Step Three: arrange dinner with Mizuhara Hideyoshi.  
 _Note to self: Must stay polite and gentlemanly the entire time._

And after that, he would have exhausted his usefulness to his father for time being, and the Plan would have served its purpose. He'd noted earlier that Step Two would be tricky at best, and that it would take time, and now he learned that Step Three was going to take some more maneuvering than he had counted on in the beginning, since she became so wound up at the mention of her father.

But that was only the smaller part of the interest he had in her. Now, she had done something interesting in a way that had nothing to do with the Plan: taking on the challenge of reconstructing the pools by herself. He knew she must've been frustrated at his attempt to rail her in at the meeting; he should've known, she was the type of person who hated to be controlled, not quite unlike himself. And yet, as readily as she had accepted his challenge, with that fiery attitude and those serious eyes, he was sure that she could not have possibly been serious about it all. He had designed it to be impossible, even for professionals; surely she had known that.

Then, suddenly, as if in tune with his thoughts, he caught a figure walking quickly past the edge of his vision outside the window, with long black hair streaming out in the air.

He smiled to himself. Mizuhara Akako. Upon a closer look he noticed that she was not wearing her school uniform; instead, she was dressed in a much more comfortable t-shirt and shorts, with a face mask on, and she seemed to be carrying a large toolbox with her. He leaned in closer to the window and watched as Akako climbed down into the drained pool and opened her toolbox, taking out a handheld grinder. She knelt down on her knees and began to polish the floor of the emptied pool as clouds dust rose up from the ground.

Tora let out a small chuckle. He didn't know why he was surprised. "She must know no limits…."

He quickly pushed all thoughts of Mizuhara Hideyoshi to the back of his mind, and, sticking his hands in his pockets, abandoned his post at the window and sidled into the yard. He glanced into the pool. She was there, her back turned to him, using a large whirring machine that seemed to smooth the concrete. She hadn't seen him approach.

"Mizuhara!"

She looked up at him, squinting; then she turned off the grinder and pulled her face mask off under her chin.

She wore a look of distaste. "What do you want, Igarashi?" she shouted up at him. He felt a small spark of glee at eliciting this response in her.

"Am I correct in assuming that you haven't managed to find any volunteers yet?" Tora asked loudly, sitting himself down on the edge of the pool.

She rolled her eyes. "Look, if you just came down here to gloat, you can get lost now." She turned her back to him again and the machine whirred loudly, causing dust to fly up into the air.

"But that would be no fun, would it?" he shouted amusedly over the noise."It'll be interesting to see how you'll pull this off," Tora pushed himself up and descended down the steps into the pool. "Without the help of the others, this task is impossible…."

"They don't want to help," she said forcefully. "It doesn't matter. I don't need them."

"There are four outdoor pools and four indoor ones," he countered with an air of superiority, but at the same time not quite believing that she really had decided to do this all herself. "You're not even halfway done. How can you possibly expect to have finished upgrading them all, by hand, within a week? Like it or not, you are in desperate need of help."

He suddenly caught sight of a teetering pile of tools, diagrams, and what looked like a large box of shiny new blue tiles sitting precariously on the steps. Smirking, he stuck out his foot behind him and lightly kicked the pile, causing a fluttering deluge of paper to fly up into the air, followed in quick succession by the chaotic clunking sound of metal and the sound of a thousand tiles shattering as they fell out of the box and collided with the floor.

She whipped around fast, her long black hair coalescing around her face, her dark eyes wide. The machine went silent.

"Oops," Tora said, using every ounce of self-control he possessed to keep himself from laughing as he watched her storm over to him and the scattered mess on the floor, her face livid.

"What the hell?!"

"It was an accident," he lied, and he moved aside when she kneeled down to assess the damage on the remains of the new tiles that now lay broken.

"These cost money, you know!" she shouted, rising, and threw a few pieces of tile she'd been holding violently to the ground.

Tora said, smirking, "Money is easy. Don't you realize how simple it would all be if I were to make a quick phone call to my father's office? This renovation could be finished within hours. You're just wasting your time."

Her eyes flashed dangerously. "For the last time, Igarashi, I don't want your father's company paying for this! I said I would do this myself, and that's what I'm doing. So for God's sake leave me alone!"

His face split into a grin. "Well, if you really must be stubborn like this," he said, "it will be great fun watching you struggle."

"Whatever, Igarashi. Just as long as you leave me alone."

There was a silence. Five minutes ago he might've only tried carefully playing the part of a polite gentleman, as tiring as it was; but now, as she turned her back, visibly trying to bury her anger, she was practically begging for a response from him, and there was only so much of a rise one can get from another under the guise of a gentleman. And then there was the tempting reminder that she had no ties with her father anyways….

He found he suddenly had no inhibitions on letting himself speak anymore. _Note to self: thrown out the window._

"That makes me wonder," he smirked, "how long you can keep this up." He took a step forward.

"Keep what up?" she snapped. He continued walking at a slow pace toward her, his gaze unwavering, steady. She faced him, standing amidst a mass of dust turned gold by the setting sun.

"I mean," breathed Tora, closing the distance between them and leaning forward so that their faces were very close; he could feel the warmth of her body. She looked caught off-guard at first, but now the hard expression had returned, and she was standing her ground, her eyes raised defiantly to meet his. "Staying after hours like this, wearing yourself out….and you have schoolwork on top of all that….how much sleep do you get, I wonder?"

"That doesn't matter," she replied brusquely.

"Oh?" said Tora in a low voice, raising an eyebrow as his eyes ran down her features. Underneath her glare, her face was really quite beautiful….what with her full lips and the clean angles of her cheekbones; and her dark, deep, almond-shaped eyes, illuminated in the evening light, were glaring at him venomously now. "You seem rather reckless to me, Mizuhara….can you even sacrifice your own health for this cause?" His neck tingled as her hot breath floated upwards, cloudlike. Her eyes were still unrelenting when he reached forward and tilted her chin up to him, her skin warm and smooth under his fingers. He grinned and wondered briefly if he'd ever see a surrender in those eyes. He thought not.

"I want to know, how far are you willing to go?"

"As far as necessary," she said through gritted teeth, and forcefully swatted his hand away from her face. "And if you don't get away from me right now I won't hesitate to kick you in the balls."

He arched an eyebrow, torn between sudden apprehension that she really would kick him and a burning curiosity as to what she might do next. So he smirked, leaned in even closer, and said, "I'm telling you to give up, Mizuhara. There's no way you can manage it. Because you see–OMPFF–!"

Rather abruptly she had aimed her knee right up his crotch, and he doubled over painfully, clutching the railing on the sides of the pool for support. Pain emanated from his midsection. His eyes watered.

But then he was laughing quite hard, "You–you actually–Jesus–"

"I'm not giving up," she growled, folding her arms and leaning down to observe him as he fell to his knees. "Let that be clear at least."

She turned away from him, checking her machine. "And if you're not going to make yourself useful, could please you leave?"

He let out another laugh. "You know, you remind me of–"

"Just go away."

"–someone I knew before–"

She glowered at him threateningly.

"Alright, fine," he said, cracking a wicked smile to suggest that he was not at all done with her, but backing away quickly all the same. "I'm leaving."

"We'll see," Tora said to himself as he limped out of the pool, chuckling. "Who will be the first to capitulate." All pursuing thoughts about Mizuhara Hideyoshi quite vanished from his mind; the current situation was much more entertaining to him than he might have originally intended. _For once,_ he thought gleefully, _things were not all going to plan._

* * *

The week dragged on, and Akako was only able to finish off the renovations of three of the eight swimming pools. With Friday fast approaching, Akako found herself staying later and later into the night to finish the job.

On Thursday after school, she was in a state of stress. Tomorrow was the deadline. She feared that Tora had been right: without the help of the others, she wouldn't be able to finish. At this moment, she was facing the five untouched swimming pools that she would somehow have to finish that night. And yet she was not ready to give up her first project as part of the student council. She knew he wanted to control her, to bring him under his wing. There was no way in hell she'd let him.

It was with these thoughts in her mind, and a heavy heart, that she proceeded down the staircase to finish up polishing the floors of the fourth swimming pool. She worked alone far past sundown, moving so fast that her muscles cramped several times, leaving her in a state of constant pain. Dust flew in the air, and even with her face mask on she could feel it in her lungs. She coughed but went on.

Gradually, breathing became more difficult as the darkness around her thickened. At some point, she got it in her mind to grab a drink of water to cleanse out the dust in her mouth. But when she stood up, faintness took over her body. Her head pounded; she struggled to breathe; she felt her legs wobble and her arms go slack.

 _"I've got you,"_ a low voice murmured close to her ear, before her legs finally gave way everything went black.

* * *

Tora had stayed after school yet again to observe Akako, who was predictably working in the pools. The whole week had gone by without her soliciting for help from her student council classmates; he was not surprised, for he knew she was far too prideful for that. Quite disappointingly, though, he saw that she was nowhere close to being finished and resolved to make a call to his father's office that night.

He sighed to himself. How boring. It would seem that he'd trumped her in the end. And yet….he couldn't help taking his papers to a spot near the window overlooking the pools and glancing up occasionally to check on her progress. He didn't know what to expect each time he looked up; perhaps it was this that drew him to this spot by the window in the first place.

He watched as dusk approached and the sky turned to deep blue, and the streetlights over the school grounds turned on.

Soon after nine o'clock, after she had been toiling nonstop for four hours, he saw it fit to go talk some sense into her and tell her he was going to call his father no matter what she said this time. He had made his way to the pools when he noticed something odd. She had stood up, and she swayed a little on her feet.

"Mizuhara!" he called, leaning over the edge to get better a glimpse in the dark of what was going on. She didn't seem to hear him and dropped the machine she had been holding, her arms dangling lifelessly at her sides. He registered now that was something was very wrong, and adrenaline rushed through his body; he cursed under his breath, jumped straight into the emptied pool without bothering with the stairs at all, and raced to the other end, just in time to catch her as she fell unconscious.

"I've got you," he said softly, almost involuntarily, as he gathered her up, her thin body folding in his arms. With an arm supporting her shoulders and another under her knees, he carried her to the school infirmary and laid her down on an empty bed.

"How stupidly stubborn you are," he murmured to her sleeping face, her shiny bangs falling just above her closed eyes. Gently, he wiped the dust off her face with the back of his hand and brushed over her silky hair, smoothening the strands which had become disheveled in her fall. He hadn't expected her to really work until she dropped, not even giving in until her body caved to the strain. He didn't doubt for a moment that had she not collapsed, she would've continued on until the very last minute. And here he was, playing the knight, a role he was not accustomed to, and yet came to him naturally in the heat of the moment, all because she was so damn stubborn….

Perhaps the victory was not his after all.

With a sigh, he stood up and dialed a number into his phone. There was a small silence before the receiving end picked up:

"Yes, kaichou-san?"

"Maki, please gather your staff and give orders to prepare for a construction job."

"Now?"

"Yes, now. Tell them to come to the swimming pools."

"But kaichou-san, you've told us not to interfere with Mizuhara-san."

"She's – how do I put it – incapacitated at the moment. Can't you arrange for your father's company to complete the job?"

"Wasn't the original plan to have your father's company–"

"The original plan doesn't matter. Just do as I ask."

"...yes, right away, kaichou-san."

At around ten o'clock, bulldozers and large industrial trucks had pulled into the yard, and men dressed in neon construction vests stepped onto the ground, shouting orders at each other. Within minutes the job had begun with the whirring of several machines and engines, and the beeping of trucks as they moved around the area.

He saw Maki approach him as the workers were pounding loudly into the ground.

"This is unexpected of you, kaichou-san." Maki raised an eyebrow knowingly and said, "I hope you're satisfied with going this far. You've done enough playing around. You have to be serious about your father's task now."

"Maki," Tora said, his cat-like eyes glinting in the dark. "You should know that  
I don't intend to treat her as a mere asset to our company anymore."

Maki raised his eyebrows even further up his forehead. "Is that why you're helping her like this? You couldn't leave her hanging out to dry, could you?"

He turned with a serious glance toward Maki. "Even if she's interesting, I'm not doing this for her," said Tora. He looked away suddenly. "It would be damaging to me if I received backlash for not being able to execute a simple construction job."

Maki sighed. "Please be honest with yourself. I'm warning you not to get too close to her. Last time that Ayuzawa girl caused you more trouble than you'd like to admit."

"I've no idea what you're talking about," said Tora lightly, although there was a steely undertone to his voice.

There was a small silence.

"Well, if that's all you have to say, I'm going to leave now. Goodbye." Tora moved past him, giving Maki a light pat on the shoulder as he left.

"Where are you going?" Maki called after him.

"To the infirmary!" Tora shouted over his shoulder, walking calmly back toward the school.

Shaking his head, Maki turned and made his way back to the pools to supervise the rest of the construction.

* * *

Akako woke to the sensation of bright white light striking through her eyelids painfully. It took her a moment to realize that one, she was not in her apartment, but in an unfamiliar room lined wall-to-wall with white beds, and two, she was still wearing the shirt and sweatpants she had been wearing the night before.

She sat up very quickly, snapping the covers back. "What–" a dizzy feeling overcame her senses; she put an arm down on the sheets to support herself.

A voice spoke out, "Easy there, Mizuhara, or you'll pass out again."

She whipped her head about to see Tora, sitting very comfortably in a bedside chair, a book propped in his hand.

"Igarashi–what are you–why–" Quite suddenly, the events that had transpired came to the forefront of her mind: she remembered last night, she had been working in the emptied pool, she had been exhausted, and she had fainted. She remembered too the voice that had whispered in her ear as it happened...

"You–did you bring me here?" she demanded, perhaps a little more aggressively than she'd intended.

"I did."

She grimaced, putting a hand to her pounding forehead. As she did so her gaze fell upon a clock on the opposite wall: it was just nearing eight o'clock.

Her eyes widened. "Shit," she said, throwing the blankets to the floor rather violently.

Tora quirked an eyebrow amusedly.

"Shit." She repeated. In a flash, she threw on a jacket over her shirt, stuck her feet into her shoes, and raced out of the door at top speed.

"Well, I suppose it was too much to expect even a simple 'thank you'." Tora shouted loudly after her, although she didn't hear.

She was disoriented for a moment by the unfiltered sunlight outside. She had half a mind to go to the student council room to call an emergency meeting, but before she had made it far, she saw a crowd of people gathered in an empty pool, clouds of dust dispersing in the air. There were a dozen trucks parked in the empty spaces of the yard. She skidded to a halt. As she squinted at the figures moving about, she realized they were none other than neon-clad construction workers, milling about the pools, carrying around tools and machines.

In a state of shock, she quickly made her way to the nearest pool and found Maki, who was talking with a group of workers.

"Maki!" she called, singling him out as she descended the stairway into the pool. "What–what's going on?"

The blue-haired boy stepped away from the group he was supervising and turned to her, giving a small smile of surprise. "Don't you know? I would have thought that he told you."

She waited, her eyebrows raised.

"Kaichou-san saw fit to hire my father's company to help with the reconstruction process, seeing as you were temporarily incapacitated. That's why–"

"What?" Her eyes were wide now. "But he–I even told him not to–"

"With all due respect, you were struggling quite a bit to complete this task on your own."

"Oh, I know," Akako laughed bitingly. "And he knew too, that son of a–"

"You really want to finish that sentence, Mizuhara?"

She turned to see Tora leaned against the railing behind her, his eyes sparkling with amusement. She suppressed a strong desire to punch him.

Maki cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Um–I'm going to go supervise the packing up in the corner over there." He excused himself.

Akako turned fully toward Tora, her arms crossed. "I suppose you think you won now, don't you?" she demanded sharply.

Tora let out a small chuckle. "Nice of you to put it that way."

She glared at him, her dark eyes smoldering.

"But even so, I wouldn't exactly call it a victory….after all, you really are incapable of giving up, aren't you?"

Frustration arose inside her. Was he not going to take her seriously?! "You–I told you to leave me alone–"

"And leave the pools unfinished? I wouldn't allow such a simple obstacle to ruin my image as the student leader of our school."

And although her temper had by no means subsided, she found she had nothing to say to that.

"Don't worry," Tora went on, giving her a somewhat sinister look, his citrine eyes practically glowing, "even if you are so very persistent….next time, I'll make sure to conquer you completely."

She was struck by this at first, then rapidly recovered and rearranged her expression to that of a piercing dark glower. "Like hell you will."

Their attention turned as the last workers left noisily in a large truck, leaving the dusty pools. When Akako surveyed the yard further and saw that the job was done; the floors were shiny with new tiles, and the concrete was smooth all around; the pools would be ready to be filled again soon.

Tora turned to leave with a satisfied smirk on his face, and he stuck his hands in his pockets as he began walking away.

For some reason this lit a feeling of dull alarm within her. "Wait, Igarashi." She quickly clasped a hand around his arm, holding him back.

"Thanks," she said, feeling uncertain all of a sudden, biting her lip and lowering her gaze. "Thanks for–when I passed out–and for just now…."

She saw his golden eyes widen in the sunlight. Then, putting a hand down to her cheek, he leaned very close, a warm presence before her; and she received a waft of the faint, lingering scent of aftershave on his skin. He said, with the air of a predator looking down at his prey, "You looked really cute when you were sleeping."

Her gratitude crumbled and gave way to abrupt outrage and embarrassment. She slapped his hand away.

"Get lost."

He merely smirked and sauntered away, his hands in his pockets.

* * *

 _Yikes! Long chapter. That concludes the Swimming Pool Arc, my friends! Or as I like to call it, TORA VS. AKAKO, ROUND 1 hehe_

extras:  
hsgshjsks I'm running out of things to put here. But for now:

 _1\. 'They were all the same, the rich, thinking that everything and everyone was theirs to control just because they had money. She clenched her fists at her sides.'_

***insert Arthur meme*** (i'M SO SORRY,,, I HAD TO)

 _2\. '"Of course," said Akako harshly, her fear melting away with a fervent desire to smack the smirk off of his face.'_

***insert Beyoncé: 'smACK IT, SMACK IT, IN THE AIR' These were my restrained, mature thoughts as I wrote this line :)

* * *

 **Review replies:**

AusllyBeliever: You're right about that, but I guess the the board would get it done faster and more efficiently than volunteers...and Tora was trying to make his point too XD. And thank you thank you thank you for always supporting/reviewing my chapters, you're such a great reader I wanna give you a hug :")

sweetH34R7: FIRST OF ALL thank you so much for reviewing. You're an amazing sweetheart (ehe see what I did there?) But AHAHA I'm glad you were rooting for Akako, and I'm sorry that she couldn't _quite_ wipe that smirk off his face just yet...I hope you'll settle for a stalemate between them two. Please keep reading! I look forward to your reactions to future chapters :)

MistWizard: Yes, I actually enjoy doing research a lot haha. I'm a nerd. Also, thanks for that little observation. I went back and read it and I realized you were right about how Tora was just too complacent, so I added just a touch more about how he must've been holding himself back, trying to keep that gentlemanly image. However his true side does surface in this chapter, I hope you're satisfied with that at least ;) Thanks for your insight and for reviewing/supporting me!

* * *

Hope you liked this chapter! Leave a fav, follow, or a review, if you've got any questions, comments, or concerns :) Oh, and don't forget to check out the song I mentioned in the beginning. Link's in my profile. Tell me what you think! Ok...that's it. _Really_ see you in September this time! You can anticipate the next chapter in about two weeks. Byeee

 _08/19/17 first draft._


	6. Rematch

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_** _yIKES it's been too long since I've seen you guys. Anyways, I'm back slightly later (a week later? jeez I'm so sORRY) than I originally promised, I hope that's okay with all of y'all. Mmmm and I see I've gained some new followers so I just wanna say welcome to the club! I hope you enjoy the ride :)_

 _Another announcement: I've recently revised my first two chapters. They're still the same plot and everything, but I added come details here and there that hopefully made them a little more interesting. Feel free to back and take a look!_

 _Review replies are at the end of chapter. I hope you all enjoy this update!_

* * *

 **Chapter Four: Rematch**

* * *

The swimming pools having been completely restored by noon, Akako now found herself admiring their glimmering blue depths from the height of the second-floor cafeteria in the company of Kaon, Tomu, and Sasaki.

Kaon, as usual, was chattering away on the most tasteless of subjects. "Kaichou-san seems to have taken a special interest in you, Mizuhara," she was saying, her fingers twirling the ears of her teddy bear. "I don't remember the last time he helped someone out like that."

"Of course he wasn't helping _me_ ," Akako said through gritted teeth. "He said wasn't going to leave the pools unfinished." Akako bit back a wave of annoyance. She had been trying to forget her recent failures as the new funds manager; she almost wondered if Kaon were doing it on purpose.

"Oh yes. He would have to protect his image, of course…." Kaon agreed, though there was a knowing look in her eyes and the tone of her voice made it sound as if she didn't really believe it at all.

"Well, we can't know for sure," Tomu said airily, sipping at his iced tea. "Though this might only be known within our inner circle, this president can be quite the––how do I put it–– _womanizing lightweight."_ Akako didn't find the notion surprising at all. Tomu added hurriedly, "Don't tell him I said that."

Just then a light voice floated over the intercom, cutting off all conversation:

"To all students of Miyabigaoka, this is Vice President Maki Kanade speaking. We are notifying you that our president would like you to join him and his staff in the gymnasium for an important announcement regarding the policies of the school. We will begin promptly in fifteen minutes. Those who do not attend will be mailed with a summary from the board of directors. We apologize for this short notice. Thank you."

Within minutes, Akako, Sasaki, Kaon, and Tomu were piling into the gymnasium with the rest of the school. It was loud and crowded. No one knew what to expect.

"Do you have any idea what this is about?" Sasaki whispered furtively when they found a spot to stand in the middle of the gym floor.

"No clue," Akako whispered back, frowning.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen!" Heads turned upwards immediately as the commotion dimmed down. Along with the rest of the school, Akako found herself staring at Tora, who was standing behind a tall podium at the front of the room. They all waited, anticipating.

"I apologize for interrupting your lunch hour, but I'm afraid this news couldn't wait. Recently, our board of directors all attended a meeting regarding the future of Miyabigaoka. Because of the impending general election season, we've seen changes from the most important donors to our school.

"In other words, the funding for Miyabigaoka has dropped significantly this quarter, and it was decided by the board that some of our programs must be cut." There was a pause, and Akako could've sworn that he was staring directly at her, his citrine eyes glinting in the fluorescent light of the gym.

"Notably, our scholarship program, which has been in place in our founding, will be terminated as of next month."

Akako's eyes were wide as shock rippled through her. Beside her, Sasaki was frowning deeply, his doe-like umber eyes wide as well. Murmurs ran through the crowd, and she felt many people passing quick glances at her and Sasaki, the two of them a small island of scholarship students in a sea of normal ones.

She still wasn't able to fully digest this piece of news when Tora continued, "To our small population of scholarship students, I deeply lament the loss of this program, and I regret to inform you that if you wish to remain at Miyabigaoka, you must pay the standard tuition fees beginning next month. That will be all. Good day."

Akako stood there as the rest of the crowd poured out of the gymnasium, in a state of numbness. The half of her that could not accept this remained in stiff denial. How could they promise her a full education here, and then just take it away? There was no way she'd be able to pay the tuition to this school if the scholarships were really terminated. Would she have to go back to her old school, with her hopes and dreams dashed? Sasaki remained there as well, his eyes round and blank. She imagined that something similar to what was running through her mind was currently going through his.

Then another thing crossed her mind, something Tora had said to her earlier: " _Even if you are so very persistent….next time, I'll make sure to conquer you completely."_

She inhaled sharply. Was it a coincidence, or did canceling the scholarships look like payback for defying his wishes in the student council? She knew that as the chairman's son, he must have some influence over the board's decisions. But why was he willing to jeopardize so many other students' educations as well? Had she really ticked him off that badly, just by insisting on doing things her way in the council? She hoped she was only being presumptuous.

All of a sudden, Sasaki dropped to a nearby bench and hunched over, putting his face in his hands. To her great distress, he began crying softly, his slight shoulders shaking with every sob. She looked around desperately, but there was no one left in the gym.

"H-hey," said Akako after a moment, feeling clumsy as she put an uncertain hand on his shoulder and sat down next to him. "It's going to be okay…."

He looked up from his hands and gave a great exhale, his wavy hair fluttering slightly with his unsteady breath. His umber eyes were rimmed with tears.

"It's just–I was counting on this school," Sasaki said, his voice tremoring. "Do–y-you know how I got in?"

Akako only shook her head; she did not know what else to say.

"It was for music," Sasaki said quietly. "I started violin I was five years old, and ever since it's been my dream to become a musician. Music is so beautiful, you know. It's so sincere, and timeless, and nothing would make me happier if I could dedicate myself to it for the rest of my life.

"But…." he wiped away some of the tears on his face and continued shakily, "my family's always had trouble with money….and my parents have to send all my brothers and sisters to university….and I have six siblings, see…." He took another big gulp of air, and she wished she could think of something to make him stop crying. "I thought–I thought I wouldn't have a chance of doing the things I love, even though I know––I know that my parents would support me if they could.

"That was when I heard about this school. I got in through a competition in May. it was like that skies opened up. You don't know how happy I was. This school, it's my lifeline. Its music program is legendary, it can even get you noticed by the big people, the international crowd….I believed I could pursue my dream again.

"But if this scholarship thing is real, I'll have to––to start over. I really can't afford it. Mizuhara," he whispered, "I don't want to give up on my dream yet."

She felt a flash of resentment. If she was right that Tora did have a part in annulling their scholarships, then all this was her fault to begin with….

"Wait here, Sasaki," she said abruptly, giving him a final pat on the shoulder. She stood. "I need to have a word with someone."

* * *

He had his back turned to the door when she walked into the student council room.

"Igarashi," she addressed him loudly from the doorway, struggling to keep her voice even and her features sitting in their usual complacency.

"Ah, Mizuhara."

He turned around to face her. He looked poised as ever, his fair, messy-neat hair perfectly falling into his eyes, the lean lines of body relaxed yet deliberate. The sight of him only fueled her anger.

"How can I help you?" He put on a charming smile and stood up, waving her over with a gesture of his arm. The smile revealed the gleam of his unnaturally sharp canines, yet she felt nothing but strong vindication as she approached him.

"You had something to do with this scholarship business, didn't you?"

There was a pause. "I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about, Mizuhara."

"Are you targeting me because I stood you up in the student council?" she demanded.

He paused again, and his next words were very careful, "That is a very serious accusation––"

But she'd heard enough. The old anger bubbled fiercer inside her. "Do you know why I'm at Miyabigaoka?" she said, her voice dangerously soft. "I'm here because I hope to graduate as a distinguished student, so that I may one day become an executive just as powerful as your father. Only I won't use my power to abuse people, I want to actually do some good in this world––and defend against people like you."

"People like me?" There was something like amusement in his eyes that only served to make her more infuriated.

"Yes, people like you! You think you can push people around, just because you're rich and you happen to be the chairman's son?!" she exploded furiously. "You've put not only mine but many other people's futures at risk, people who have hopes and dreams and ambitions, who are now questioning everything they've worked for! But I guess this all trivial to you, isn't it?"

It was impossible to tell what he was thinking behind those guarded eyes. "As I said before, it was the board's decision to withdraw the scholarships. Their act was final, and I'm afraid no amount of ranting can change that."

"Don't pretend. I know you had something to do with this," she shot back forcibly.

"Drop the act, Igarashi."

He remained motionless for a split second, his face frozen in its mask of politeness. Then, in a fluid movement, he crossed over to her spot in the room in two long, easy steps, his shoes moving softly against the polished wood floor.

"Alright, I'll drop the act," he breathed, and he placed a hand behind her so that she was suddenly trapped between him and a desk, and she felt his warmth push toward her. She was cornered, like a mouse caught in the paws of a cat.

"What are you–?"

"It's true I may hold some sway in the board of directors. So tell me, Mizuhara, how much are you willing to fight for your education here?"

She tried to push him away but he gripped her wrist hard, making sure she could not try again. He leaned closer still. There was the faint scent of detergent and lingering aftershave again, filling her head. She felt dizzy.

"Stop it. I'm not here to play your messed-up games," she hissed through gritted teeth.

His eyes were glinting. "The only way you're going to achieve anything is if you show the board how badly you want to pursue your education. These are among the top bureaucrats in the nation I'm talking about. Consider who you're up against. Otherwise, you're only going to fail."

"Who is it that I'm up against?" said Akako, her glare like a sharp dagger. "You, or the board of directors?"

He smiled wickedly. "Does it matter?"

She clenched her fists. "Have I really pissed you off so much that you went to the trouble of lobbying the directors to get me out of this school?"

"On the contrary," he said in a low voice, smirking, gazing down at her, and she could see all the little textures and patterned inflections in his bright citrine eyes, and even count his lashes. "You are….extraordinarily interesting."

"Excuse me––what––'interesting?!'" Her thoughts ran wildly. At first she'd been under the impression that he'd suddenly interfered in the scholarship program because she'd stood up to him in the council….but now, it just sounded like he was making a spectacle out her for his own enjoyment. Just what was he playing at?

"Hey––let me go––!"

He was far too close now; the air was too tight, too warm. She couldn't breathe.

"What're you gonna do, kick me again?"

In truth she had been considering this; however, her legs were pinned in such a way that made them immobile. She felt a spark of indignation when she realized he must've planned it that way. But as his free hand moved toward her shoulder, Akako made a sudden twisting movement with her wrist and jerked free of his grasp, shoving him away. Her gaze was murderous.

He looked surprised for split second, but then his face returned to its usual smirk. "Oh, we know some aikido now, do we?"

"Not aikido. Judo."

His eyes were glinting again. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins. She turned to face him fully as he struck out at her; time slowed down, her vision tunneled, and she let her body take control of her movements. It was like a choreographed dance; she blocked his arm here and swept out with her leg there; she ducked under his fist, spinning so that her back was to him, and struck out with her elbow; she did not know how long the series of parries and swooshing blows continued as they whirled about the room, each trying to outmaneuver the other.

But her frustration was rapidly mounting. He was only toying with her, trying to get her riled up….and succeeding. When he came close enough to her again she grabbed onto his collar with a fist and pulled him downwards, so that her head was practically butting his. He smiled down at her, his sharp teeth showing, to the effect that he looked quite wild.

"I told you that I'm not going to play your games," she growled, her eyes drilling into his angrily, her breath heavy; she was even more enraged to see that he seemed pleased with her reaction.

"You'll have show me how determined you are sooner or later, if you want to stay."

She took a deep breath, both her fists and her voice shaking, "You know, Igarashi….it is very tiring to fight against you."

"Then surrender." He lifted his chin and his eyebrows. There was a smirk on his lips, a challenge in his eyes.

She threw him from her by the collar in response to this and turned away from him abruptly, catching her breath. "I won't," she seethed. Then she felt his smug gaze on her back and added savagely, "I….despise people like you."

And she whipped out of the room, bristling, slamming the door behind her so as to put something solid between her and his impenetrable stare.

* * *

Minutes after she was gone, Tora's phone gave a little buzz. The screen lit up: it was a text from his father.

Igarashi Takei: 12:28 p.m.

I want updates on the task I gave you.

Don't get carried away.

Tora grimaced. He knew his father had eyes and ears everywhere on him, but he'd never gotten used to how eerie it was. Instead of answering his father's text, he shoved his phone back into his pocket. He pushed his task to the back of his mind. His father would have to be patient.

* * *

Akako was surprised to see Sasaki waiting for her when she exited the student council room, his eyes puffy from crying.

"How'd it go, Mizuhara?" he asked her hopefully despite his haggard appearance.

"Oh….um….it––it went well," she lied hastily, scratching the back of her neck.

Just then they were approached by a rather tall, disheveled young man who looked as if he'd come running all the way there. He had longish, shiny, bronze-colored hair and tan skin. His eyes were hazel, framed with long lashes, and slightly downturned, making him look rather like a puppy.

"Hey," the boy panted, having gotten within earshot of them. "You're Mizuhara Akako and Sasaki Haruto, aren't you?"

Akako and Sasaki exchanged puzzled glances.

"I'm so glad I caught you two," the boy smiled, revealing a gleaming set of white teeth. "I'm Hiro Hamada," he went on, and stuck out his hand for each of them to shake. "Captain of the judo team here."

"Nice to meet you," said Sasaki, hurriedly wiping his eyes, while Akako merely nodded at the boy.

"You….music scholarship, is that right?" Hiro addressed Sasaki, his brows knit. Sasaki nodded, trying in vain to hide his persisting sniffles. "And you….?"

"Just academics," said Akako dispassionately.

"That's perfect!" said Hiro affirmatively, much to her bemusement. "Well, it might interest you to know that I'm also a scholarship student.

Akako's intrigue piqued. "How did you get––?"

"A bugger of a tournament last year," Hiro smiled again, wrinkling his nose. "Gave me a nasty scar on my elbow here," he lifted up his sleeve, and both Akako and Sasaki peered curiously at a dark, webbed patch on his skin. "...had to stitch it up twice. But I still got scouted, didn't I?"

"Anyways," Hiro continued, shaking back his sleeve, "that all might not matter now if the scholarships are going away."

Akako clenched her fists; the unwelcome reminder of the announcement at noon gave her no pleasure at all.

"But, listen," Hiro said, and he leaned in toward them significantly, his voice dropping. "We still might have a chance of getting it back."

Her heart quickened. She said sharply, "What are you saying, Hiro?"

"There's the Triplet Triathlon this weekend," Hiro explained, with the air of having rehearsed this conversation before in his head. "Teams of three students compete against each other in the three fields: Arts, academics, and sports." He began talking very fast and excitedly now, "I'm saying that if we three were to form a team….Sasaki-san, with your expertise in music, Mizuhara-san, with your intelligence, and me, with my athleticism….we could compete in it."

When Akako and Sasaki continued to look dumbfounded, he said rather impatiently, "Don't you see? This is our time to prove our worth to the school, to show them that we are just as good and as valuable as other students, to remind them of how we got here in the first place!" His eyes were shining, and he was smiling triumphantly. "It's the perfect opportunity!"

His fervor seemed to be contagious. He's right, she thought to herself as the smallest spark of hope lit up inside her. Not only was it the perfect opportunity to get their scholarships back, it seemed to be the only opportunity.

Then it suddenly hit her that this was what Tora had planned all along. Hadn't he said something about "showing him how determined she was?" He'd probably known she would receive news of the triathlon, and, being void of any other options, she'd have to compete in it; then he would get all the laughs he wanted watching her struggle to win her place back in the school.

She'd even said that she had no desire to play his games. Now it seemed she had no choice.

"I'm in," Sasaki said, nodding. He looked much less miserable now that he'd been given hope.

"Alright, guys," Akako agreed grimly, giving them each a hard slap on the back, "let's win this thing."

* * *

The air smelled of fresh foliage and dew when Akako stepped outside the campus after class ended. Autumn had begun taking its golden toll on the forest surrounding the school; the leaves had turned to shades of vibrant red and orange.

Akako's head pounded from being unconscious for most of the night before, and then there was this whole triathlon debacle….and of course there was Tora himself, the root of most her problems. He was so infuriating, the way he acted with such entitlement, like he was better than everyone else. He confounded her; he had just about saved her life the day before, and now he was back to being a scheming bastard. On top of all that, he was a pervert, a pervert for sure. Just what would he have done if she'd been defenseless? She shuddered. She supposed, just like Tomu had said earlier, he was indeed a womanizing lightweight.

"Mizuhara!" A high-pitched, nasal voice called out, seeming to augment her headache. Akako sighed, bracing herself. Kaon was running up to her, carrying her bear in a sling on her back, followed by a cheerful-looking Sasaki and a blank-looking Tomu.

"We were going to go to the park, wanna come?"

"Come on!" Sasaki interjected. "It'll be fun."

"Not really," she said impassively.

"Well, too bad," Kaon replied gleefully, seizing her by the arm, "we're meeting someone there." With a wave of her hand she called over her chauffeur, who was driving a luxury silver Porsche.

Akako sighed again, relenting to Kaon's pull and allowing herself to be shuffled into the car, which smelled like expensive leather; after a few minutes of driving, they arrived at the Midori Park, a sizable expanse of greenery with a peaceful lake situated in the middle of the area. Behind the column of trees, white skyscrapers towered, a looming reminder of the city surrounding them.

They sat in a shady area along the bank of the lake, spreading out a large picnic blanket to settle on. Kaon handed her chauffeur some cash and ordered him to go buy them drinks at a stall nearby.

Presently a tall, willowy girl about the same age as Akako came toward them, a docile smile on her face.

She was the most beautiful girl Akako had ever seen. She had a pale oval face, dark round eyes, and a petite nose; and her silky hair was black and long, and she carried herself with an aura of grace and femininity Akako was sure she'd never be able to manage.

"Hello," the girl greeted them in slightly accented Japanese, smiling as she sat. She was wearing the navy blue Miyabigaoka uniform, but Akako couldn't remember seeing her before at school.

Kaon, who was unpacking her teddy bear, nodded toward the girl and said, "Mizuhara, this is Li Yi Hua...Yi Hua, this is Mizuhara Akako."

"Nice to meet you," Yi Hua smiled again, reaching for a handshake. "Hmm," she said, as her eyes searched Akako's face. "I believe you are what Tenryu calls….'a rough diamond.'"

"Umm….nice to meet you too," Akako said, unsure of what else to say. Yi Hua moved to Sasaki, offering him a hand too.

"Yi Hua-san, you're not from here, are you?" asked Sasaki, his head tilted to the side.

She smiled ruefully, as if this question was one she got a lot. "No, I'm from Hong Kong," she said, "you may know me as––"

Sasaki gasped suddenly, his eyes wide. "Miracle Model! I've seen you before!"

"Oh really?" Yi Hua said in pleasant surprise.

"Yes, Yi Hua's quite famous for her looks," said Kaon.

At this, Yi Hua sighed, a faraway look in her eyes. "It's all thanks to Tenryu," she said wistfully. "It's a shame he couldn't be here right now. He got stuck in Shanghai." Seeing the confused look on Akako's face, she added, "We were there for a shoot. That's why I missed the past few days at school. He and I were supposed to come back together, but he got held back. Something about a contract with Alexander Wang."

"Wow," said Sasaki in amazement, "I guess Miyabigaoka really is the place for the elite."

Yi Hua laughed quietly. "Yes, I suppose so."

"We are 'the elite group', after all," Tomu said stoically, speaking for the first time since they left school.

Kaon's chauffeur returned with their drinks, and Yi Hua went on to describe her younger life at Sasaki's request.

"Well, I grew up in Hong Kong," she explained, delicately taking a sip of her soda. "I wasn't that pretty before, actually….here, I'll show you a picture," she pulled out her phone, flipped through some photos, and showed them all a picture of a girl with short hair and glasses, with her shoulders hunched over. Akako peered closer, hardly believing that the girl in the picture was the same person as the one who sat across from her now.

"I never would have dreamed of becoming a model, you know," she went on, the cool breeze making her hair ripple in waves. "But then Tenryu came along."

"Oh boy, here we go," muttered Kaon amusedly, earning her a sharp glance from Tomu.

"He transformed me from a shy, introverted girl to someone who has confidence, all because of nicer hair and makeup," she stated proudly, then decidedly added, "and of course, a better sense of fashion."

"You," she said suddenly, pointing at Akako, "Adidas sweats, long sleeve tee?"

Akako looked down at herself, unabashed. "Yeah…?"

"Looks good on you," said Yi Hua in an almost regretful tone. "But you could do much better, don't you agree?"

"Ha," Akako let out a sarcastic laugh, "as if I have the money to worry about my clothes."

Yi Hua frowned, her perfect eyebrows knitting. "Don't you go to Miyabigaoka?"

"Scholarship," Akako said, between sips of her drink. And though it brought a rather unpleasant feeling to her stomach, she couldn't help thinking how long it would be before she couldn't say that she was on scholarship anymore.

"Ah," said Yi Hua. "That explains it."

"Me too," Sasaki raised his hand. "Although….to be honest, I don't know how much longer I'll be staying at Miyabigaoka." Akako's head flicked to his direction. It sounded as if he'd just spoken her thoughts.

Yi Hua cocked her head to the side. "Oh? Why's that?"

Sasaki gave a great sigh and explained, almost reluctantly, the situation with the evaporating scholarships.

"Goodness!" she gasped after hearing this. "Well, I'm sure they won't have the heart to kick out talented students like you and Mizuhara-san."

Despite Akako's inherent hatred for those of Yi Hua's status, she couldn't help but take a liking to her. She supposed that Yi Hua must be one of those people who were impossible to hate, what with her pretty face and sincere words.

Soon, evening settled over the city, casting the autumn trees in a warm glow. The elite group said goodbye to each other and dispersed, heading to different corners of the city.

Gazing out of the window on her bus ride home, Akako realized this was the first time she actually had friends (could she call them that?) since coming to Miyabigaoka. It was very strange to suddenly have people around her to talk to, even if they were a little pushy, sometimes annoying, and certainly not people she would've expected to become friends with.

And yet, lying in bed that night, she felt exceptionally warm inside.

* * *

 _APOLOGIES for the lack of chapter extras. :( Look forward to them in coming chapters!_

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 ** _Review replies:_**

AusllyBeliever: Yep...showing a shy good side of himself hehe ;) And as for your other questions...the plot of this fic takes a long spin so uh...it'll probably be a while before those preset things start to roll. Thanks for ur support though! 3

James Birdsong (guest): Thank you! I hope you continue to support me :)

 _Thanks for reading! Hmu w/ favs, follows, and reviews! :)_

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 _First draft 9/14/17._


	7. Foul Play

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Soooo looks like i've done it again hahaaa...once again, I'm so sorry about going MIA, but hey at least I'm back now? And I feel really bad about disappearing for so long and not keeping up with my schedule, so I guess I'm going to upload the next couple chapters in very quick succession. Think of it as an early Christmas present, yeah? ;)_

 _Review replies are at the end of this **very long** chapter (jeez I hope you don't mind xD) . Thanks to everyone who's sticking by me and my inconsistencies! I cherish each and every one of you. _

_I hope you enjoy this update!_

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Chapter Five: Foul Play

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All week, Akako, Sasaki, and Hiro worked harder than ever to prepare for the Triplet Triathlon. Akako pored over volumes of scholastic texts and studied for hours on end; Sasaki locked himself in the music room, fiddling away at his violin, keeping in practice with the other instruments he had learned (Akako and Hiro had not even known that he played other instruments until now; apparently he was also quite proficient at piano, flute, and the Japanese koto). Hiro spent the week at his old dojo, training diligently to get into tip-top shape and improve his performance.

Saturday seemed to arrive all too soon.

Now, the three of them were grouped together in the gymnasium, standing off to the side with the other teams. The commotion in the gym was deafening. The bleachers were packed tightly with onlookers; not a single space remained unoccupied. A platform had been set up in the middle of the floor for the contestants, and there was a stand in front of this platform for the announcer, flanked by three judges on either side.

Across from the judges' stand, she saw Tora, accompanied by Maki and a few other elites, stride toward the side of the gym. She put on what she hoped was a cool, collected facade and steeled her nerves.

"Mizuhara, what a surprise," he said as he approached, smiling as he gave her a slight bow. "I must admit I wasn't expecting to see you here today."

"Weren't you?" she replied, shooting him a stinging smile of her own.

He ignored this remark and went on to greet Sasaki and Hiro, "And I suppose these are your teammates…." He gave each of them a rather appraising look. "I daresay, if you scholarship students do well enough, you might just catch the attention of the board of directors."

"That's what we're hoping," Hiro said, nodding with conviction. "Then, they might be persuaded to reinstate the scholarships."

Tora smiled wider at this, and Akako found it increasingly more difficult to keep herself calm and composed. You bastard. You had this planned all along, didn't you? she thought bitingly.

"I wish the best of luck to you," said Tora, his eyes concentrated on her, and as he walked past her, she thought she caught a glint of his teeth. "Remember who you're up against…."

Though Sasaki and Hiro appeared puzzled at this, Akako understood, thinking back to their conversation a couple days prior. It only thickened her resolve.

Presently, the announcer spoke, a portly middle-aged man with a feeble mustache and a potbelly,

"Good morning, everyone! I hope you all are excited as we are to see this year's Triplet Triathlon!"

Loud cheers resounded from the bleachers as the booming voice filled the room.

"Today, our teams will compete in three areas: arts, academics, sports. Audience, I sincerely hope you all will enjoy these coming performances. Miyabigaoka has a large variety of gifted students.

"As each conclude their performances, they will be awarded a number of points on a scale of 0-10 from each of our six judges we have graciously invited to participate in our event today. The team which was accrued the most number of points will be declared winners at the end of the day. And now, we will begin momentarily, if our artistic contestants will step forth, please!"

Sasaki gave an unintentional gasp, clutching his violin case tightly. He looked awfully pale.

"Hey," Akako said, putting a consoling hand on his shoulder. "You gonna be okay?" Hiro turned as well, concerned.

"Yeah," Sasaki muttered, taking a deep breath. "I––I'm a little nervous, that's all. But I'll be fine," he smiled, and his voice sounded stronger. "Because I know Mizuhara is watching over me."

Akako could only nod weakly at this, and before long Sasaki was ushered to a spot behind the platform to wait his turn. Despite his reassuring words, Akako couldn't help but feel nervous as she watched him sit in line, looking small next to the thirty-or-so other competitors with his slight shoulders and peach-like hair. Hiro seemed tense as well, standing unnaturally straight next to her. They might've been thinking the same thing; that Sasaki might not be able to handle it, and that he might balk under pressure….they both had not heard him play before, after all.

The contestants were called up to perform their acts one by one, and the number of people in front of Sasaki in line gradually dwindled. There was a street dancer who garnered a total of 47 points, an opera singer who walked away with 50, and a speed-painter who earned the highest yet, a total of 56….Akako's heart sank slightly. They were all very impressive and unique. She wondered if Sasaki would be able to hold his own.

When a ballet duo had finished their program, Sasaki walked slowly to the top of the platform, his face still pale as before.

"Hello, Contestant 27," one of the judges addressed him, peering at his form from behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles.

"Would you please introduce yourself?"

His voice was quiet and numb when he said, "I'm S-Sasaki Haruto, class 3."

Akako suddenly heard a tittering of laughter from behind her and turned abruptly to see Koganei sitting in the front row of the bleachers a few feet away, sniggering at Sasaki with his friends around him. Akako clenched her jaw and decidedly turned away, hoping desperately that Sasaki hadn't seen him.

"And Sasaki-shi, what will you perform for us today?"

"T-today I will play the–the Paganini Caprice No. 24," Sasaki managed, and he clumsily took out a deep reddish-brown violin from the case.

"Ambitious," the judge remarked in a low voice, turning to his colleagues and raising his eyebrows.

"Well, take it away, Sasaki-shi. Whenever you're ready."

Akako watched, on the edge of her nerves, as he slowly tightened his bow and tucked the instrument under his chin. He briefly tested each string with his bow, the sharp sound of the violin piercing quietly through the gymnasium, echoing into the now-silent bleachers. He appeared to close his eyes and take a shaky breath, and remained there for a few seconds. Akako had never known such anticipation.

Then he started playing.

In a flowing movement, he had drawn his bow across a string, the fingers of his left hand snapping into action, running nimbly with the brisk melody.

All of Akako's fears had melted away at the sound of the first note. It was like he'd suddenly been embodied by a different person: his upper body swayed with the music, causing his wavy hair to flutter about; his eyes were still closed, his lashes shadowed across his cheeks, though all the tension had gone from his face. He sounded sure of himself on the platform, so unlike the nervous Sasaki that Akako had spoken with just minutes prior; and, as the magnificent, golden tone of the small-looking violin filled the room, it seemed that the rest of the audience, like Akako, had been shell-shocked at this rapid transformation.

Her attention stood fast. She held her breath, and there were audible gasps from the audience as the bow began bouncing quickly on the strings in a series of sparkling fast, skipping notes, and he looked almost relaxed, his bow arm moving casually, in perfect coordination with his other hand, as if this difficult passage was but a trifle for him. It was as though he'd been transported somewhere else by his music, and when he began a different melody, a slower, mellower one, his brows creasing, the liquid tone of the violin sent chills up her arm. As the performance went on, the piece seemed to grow more demanding; soon he was playing several notes at once, his fingers never losing their precision or agility, his bow drawn ever more spiritedly across the strings as he fell deeper into his passions for the music.

The piece ended in a series of upward arpeggios brought to completion by a long, resounding chord played across the strings.

Akako and the rest of the gymnasium were broken out of their trance as the last notes faded away in the air. Sasaki lowered his bow and bowed, the crown of his head pointing directly forward. The audience burst into applause and the judges immediately turned to one another, engrossed in conversation.

"Sasaki-san," the judge in the glasses declared seriously when he finished conferring with the other judges, "You have performed incredibly well. My colleagues and I agree that your playing is of professional caliber, especially for such a challenging piece." The judge paused, and Akako could see that Sasaki was holding his breath, not knowing what to expect.

"...I do believe we have our highest scorer of the day. You've got a total of 58 points. Congratulations, young sir. We wish you a bright future."

Sasaki's face split into a brilliant grin, and he bowed several more times, thanking each of the judges profusely. Akako caught sight of Tora, who was sitting very close to the judges near the front of the audience. She felt a slight flash of resentment, seeing him there. It was his fault that she had to compete in to win her status back in Miyabigaoka, and she found it exceedingly difficult to condone him for that.

When Sasaki returned from the platform, his face was flushed, and his eyes were shining. "I did it, guys!" he said, laughing, giving each Akako and Hiro a quick hug.

"That was amazing," Hiro marveled, undisguised admiration in his hazel puppy eyes. "I've never heard anything like that in my life….no wonder they've got you here at Miyabigaoka."

Akako smiled too and nodded her agreement. She felt relieved yet anxious; though Sasaki had performed exceptionally, there was no telling how the rest of the day would go, and even if their team ended up winning, the board of directors still might not be convinced to change their minds. But for now, she rejoiced. A third of the triathlon was over and had gone well.

After a few minutes, the announcer took up his mic again, "Next, if we'll have all our academic competitors gather at the back of the gym. The next leg of our triathlon will rest on you, smarties!"

Akako felt a small bubbling of apprehension now. Sasaki had done his part. It was her turn.

"Good luck," Hiro wished her, and Sasaki gave her a firm pat on the back. "You'll do great."

She walked numbly to the back of the gymnasium, where several rows of desks and chairs had been set up. She took her seat in the first available one and waited restlessly as the rest of the competitors filled the empty desks around her.

"Contestants," the announcer said loudly, "this first round will be a simple timed written test. You will be awarded thirty points for a perfect score, with extra points added depending on how fast you are able to finish. No extra points will be given if there is a mistake in your work; points will be deducted for any errors. The top ten scorers of this round will be allowed to continue to a round of speed-quizzing. The rest will be eliminated."

Her heart was pumping, and adrenaline coursed through her veins. She'd taken countlessly many written tests before, and yet this one caused her more anxiety than any other she had faced in her life.

"Now, on top of each of your desks, we have provided two sharpened pencils and a sealed test booklet. You may break the seal, but not open the booklet."

Her fingers were trembling slightly as she broke open the seal and took up a pencil in her hand. A large timer had been projected on the opposite wall, counting down from twenty minutes.

"Contestants, you have twenty minutes to complete this test," said the announcer. "You may begin….now!"

There was a sudden rustling of paper, and Akako flipped open to the first page:

She smiled to herself and began working fast, bending her head down. Oh, this was going to be easy….

The rest of the test contained a variety of questions from several fields; she was asked about physics, chemistry, calculus, language, and even history. But there were also questions like: "A criminal who has been sentenced to death can choose one of three punishments: Being locked in a room with an armed assassin, being locked in a room that is burning down, or being locked in a room with a lion who hasn't eaten in six months. Which should he choose?" (it was the lion, because a lion who hadn't eaten in six months was a dead lion); another like this read "You have been shut in a dark cabin. You have one match. Which do you light first, the newspaper, the lamp, the candle, or the fire?" (obviously it was the match; this one had required almost no thought at all).

It was apparent that the test posed no challenge to her. She finished in a streak, and, having completed far before anyone else, quickly checked her answers. There were still nine minutes on the clock when she finished. She walked up to the judges' stand, handing in her test; she could feel the eyes of the gymnasium on her, and there were small whispers in the crowd. No one else had gotten up after her.

She watched anxiously as one female judge with her hair tied back in a severe bun bent over her work with a red pen, making ambiguous marks on the paper.

After what seemed to be the longest nine minutes of her life, the timer rang abruptly, displaying a flashing red 00:00. The rest of the tests were taken up. Besides Akako, only two other people had managed to finish early near the five minute mark; she recognized one of them to be on the same team as the speed painter from earlier.

"Congratulations, contestants," the announcer's voice pervaded the air once again. "You have completed the first half of the academic triathlon.

"The ten highest test-scorers will be allowed to proceed to a round of speed-quizzing. The rest of you are, unfortunately, eliminated thus far. Our lucky ten are:

Mizuhara Akako, our highest scorer with a total score of 39 points; Hiroi Amisa, right at her tail with a total of 35 points…."

Akako released the breath she had been holding and closed her eyes briefly. Relief flooded through her again, and she saw Hiro give her a big thumbs up from the sidelines. With her 39 points so far, coupled with Sasaki's 58, that put their team in the lead with 97 total….although the speed painter's team, who had 56 the first round and 35 this round, put them in close second.

When the announcer finished listing all the names, the ten of them were led to a set of podiums that stood right in front of the judges' stand. Akako looked down at her podium. There was a small red button sitting in the center. She swallowed nervously; she had a guess at what this next round might be, and she wasn't sure she liked it.

"You have done well, contestants," the judge with the glasses said, as soon as they all approached. "However, this next round will test not only your knowledge, but your wit, and how quick a of thinker you are…."

"That's right!" the announcer jumped in enthusiastically. "Ladies and gentlemen, this will be a live show of Speed-Quiz. Contestants, your have a buzzer at each of your podiums. You will all be asked a question, and you may buzz in at any time to answer. The first buzzer will have the first chance to answer. A correct answer will earn you three points each time, while a wrong answer means immediate elimination from this round. Our student president Igarashi Tora will do the honor of reading aloud the questions…."

At the mention of his name, her head flicked upward immediately. She saw him approach the judges' stand calmly and take his place behind the mic. He was smiling smugly, and his citrine eyes were twinkling. She felt a stab of displeasure. We'll see who's laughing by the end of this….

Akako readied herself, resting a light finger on the button, and tried to turn her focus away from her anger as Tora raised a sheet of paper and began reading in a loud, clear voice:

"Who is considered the father of the periodic table of elements?"

Buzz. The little button under her finger lit up. The other contestants shot her looks of malice while the judges and Tora peered at her expectantly.

"Dmitri Mendeleev," she said.

"That is correct," he affirmed, and she saw a smile grow on his face. It made her uneasy all of a sudden, like everything she was doing was to his bidding….but she had no time to think of that, because he kept reading:

"How far can a rabbit run into the woods?"

There was a bit of a pause at this. Then––

Buzz. "Halfway," she answered, feeling slightly amused. After that, she reasoned, the rabbit was no longer running into the woods, but rather out of the woods….

"That is correct," he said. His smile became wider. So far, none of the other contestants had had a chance to buzz in. It was beginning to feel much like a match of her against Tora. The thought only made her all the more uneasy; but she was still determined as ever to prevail over him.

"In what year did Germany invade Poland at the start of World War II?"

Buzz. "1939."

"That is correct."

"What is the approximate population of Tokyo?"

Buzz. "About 9 million."

"That is correct."

"Who stars as the protagonist in the 1965 American film The Sound of Music?"

Buzz. "Julie Andrews."

"That is correct."

"What is the highest point on Earth?"

She hesitated for a second too long. Buzz. This time, it was not her buzzer; she looked up in a brief flash of surprise at a boy who was at the podium across from her.

"The summit of Mount Everest," he said confidently.

Tora peered pitifully at him. "Unfortunately, that is incorrect, Tashiro-shi. You are hereby eliminated."

The boy looked sourly downtrodden and stepped off of his podium. Akako leapt at this chance and buzzed frantically. Her buzzer lit up.

"Mount Chimborazo, in the Andes," she said, and she knew she was right. While Everest was indeed the highest mountain above sea level, she'd read somewhere that Chimborazo was a mountain of comparable height, though it was closer to the equator; which meant it was the highest point on earth, even if it wasn't the highest mountain in terms of elevation.

"...that is correct."

"Our final question," Tora said, and his eyes were glinting as they fixed on her. She stared right back unfalteringly, anticipating. "What is the date of current student president Igarashi Tora's birthday?"

She stared at him in frozen disbelief, wondering if she'd misheard. How was she supposed to know the date of his birthday? But before she'd even had a chance to guess, someone else buzzed in: it was Hiroi Amisa, the girl on the speed painter's team who'd scored 35 points in the first round.

"February 18th," said Hiroi, the smallest of flushes creeping into her face.

Tora's smug smile grew into a triumphant one, and his eyes rested on Akako for a second longer before he said, "That is correct."

She was bristling. This was completely unfair….was he even allowed to ask questions like that? The judges all looked perfectly calm behind him; it didn't seem to have bothered them in the slightest.

Then the portly announcer stood, raising the mic to his lips. "We conclude this round. Our leading scorer is Mizuhara Akako with a total of 57 points, followed by Hiroi Amisa with a total of 38 and Tsuyoi Tashiro with 35…."

She relaxed slightly; the question at the end had not cost her too much. But still, she had to fight to keep herself impassive as Tora walked off the stand, smirking.

"Well done, Mizuhara," he said in his infuriatingly polite voice, and at the same time she saw Hiro and Sasaki walk over to her also.

"Yeah!" Sasaki agreed fervently, clapping a hand on her back. "At this rate, we'll get our scholarships back in no time!"

"Ah….you're fortunate to have just caught us delivering tea to our triathlon teams," said Tora, and he moved aside to let Maki and another boy step out from the entourage, carrying two silver trays of porcelain cups. "Such success calls for celebration, don't you think? A drink, anyone?" he offered politely, gesturing toward the tray.

"No thanks," Akako said hostilely; she didn't trust anything that Tora put in front of her. She made to drag Hiro and Sasaki away by the elbow.

"Hey, wait, you guys might be fine, but I think I'll take some," Hiro resisted, plucking a cup from the tray "The rest of this is on me, now, isn't it…." And in a large gulp, he downed the entire cup in one.

"Ah….that's some good stuff….Thanks," he said to Tora, smacking his lips.

"My pleasure."

Akako shot Tora a last fiery look and finally succeeded in tugging Hiro and Sasaki away.

The announcer came on suddenly, "Hello again, everyone! With the conclusion of our academic competition, we now invite our athletes to come forward. The athletic portion of our triathlon will be divided into two parts: First, you must compete in a round of miscellaneous sports; then, our victor from that round will announce rounds of sport of his or her choice for the final matches. If we could have all non-competitors for this round return to the bleachers, please…."

Akako made a start. "Hiro––"

"I know," he said, nodding grimly. "I'll win the first rounds and pick judo as the final match. That'll be how we win."

Sasaki gave him an encouraging high-five, then both he and Akako strode wordlessly to find a spot in the bleachers, leaving Hiro standing by the platform with the other athletes. She hoped Hiro could stick out long enough to get to the final rounds….if he did get a chance to pick judo, this would be an easy win.

Soon after that, the first round of sports began to take place. Hiro competed in event after event; first, it was a series of 100-meter sprints, then several matches of one-on-one tennis, ping-pong, badminton, and finally, dodgeball. He performed capably in whatever challenge he was given; by the end of the first round, he had beaten all his competitors.

At the end of this, the judge in glasses stood up from his seat and raised his mic, "Congratulations, Hiro Hamada-shi. You have won the first round. Which sport do you choose to compete in for the final rounds?"

"Judo," said Hiro unhesitantly.

Akako smiled with triumph. There was sure to be a decisive victory for their team. Hiro's skill in judo was legend.

"Very well! The sport of the victor's choice is judo!" exclaimed the judge. "All who do not wish to compete, or are not capable of competing, are hereby eliminated." Several sorry-looking competitors turned tail and headed back to the bleachers. There were only five athletes left standing in the center of the gym. The judge continued,"While we're setting up the mat, if we could have a score update please…."

"First place currently held by Hiro Hamada with a total of 36 points from the first round. Second place goes to Fujiwara Akihito, following closely with 33 points from the first round…."

"Fujiwara?!" Sasaki whispered loudly beside her, looking shocked.

"Why?" Akako turned to him. "What's wrong?"

"It's just….I heard he's a national champion in judo…." Sasaki said, frowning. "Oh jeez, I just want this to be over soon…."

Akako frowned as well. They had not anticipated that someone else competing might also be skilled in judo. Had Hiro made the wrong decision?

But there was no turning back now. Hiro had already changed into a starched white judogi* and was stretching his legs and cracking his knuckles.

"These last rounds will conclude our triathlon today, ladies and gentlemen!" The announcer said giddily. "Hiro Hamada-shi has chosen judo as the final sport. Be warned, though, Hiro-shi; if you yourself are eliminated in this round, it will cost your team a total deduction of thirty points."

Akako swallowed nervously. Thirty-points was enough to make their team lose the triathlon, and the victory would go to the speed-painter's team instead. Though she had full confidence in Hiro's ability, she couldn't help feeling nervous.

"Hello, Mizuhara, Sasaki," a sudden voice greeted them, and they both turned to see Tora making his way into their row of bleachers and sat down to her left, much to her annoyance.

"Igarashi," she addressed him harshly, putting a scowl on her face. "Aren't there any better seats in this gym?"

"This one has the best view, I think. I wouldn't want to miss anything," he replied smoothly.

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, turning her shoulders away from him. There was a smug smirk on his face that gave her a bad feeling, like he might suddenly interfere in the match; but she quickly dismissed the thought as irrational. There was not much he could do sitting safely in the bleachers, was there?

The first few rounds passed easily; Hiro was very fast and his attacks were always powerful; he used unfamiliar yet effective techniques, ensuring the quick defeat of his opponents. Like Akako, he had most likely been trained in numerous forms of combat. She could see why he had been recruited to Miyabigaoka. So far, his skill on the mat was yet unmatched.

By mid-afternoon, only one opponent was left: Fujiwara Akihito, the national champion. Akako gripped the edge of her seat in the bleachers. They were so close. Just one more small win, and the victory was theirs….

Fujiwara stepped onto the mat, pushing back the sleeves of his judogi. He was a short, red-haired boy who looked as thin as a stick standing in front of Hiro. She watched as they bowed to each other, the tension in the air palpable.

"Finalists, you will have fifteen minutes to knock your opponent down. In this round, you are allowed to use not only Judo techniques, but also various techniques borrowed from other areas of martial arts." said the announcer excitedly. "The clock will start in three….two….one….and begin!"

In a flash of movement, Fujiwara darted forward and struck out sharply at Hiro, who doubled over but recovered. Akako cursed under her breath. The Fujiwara boy was much faster than she'd expected….she hoped Hiro would be able to secure a win. But as the minutes dragged by, it became clear that Hiro was at a massive disadvantage to his opponent. He was being pummeled, over and over, his arms raised weakly…

"Wait," Akako said suddenly, standing up. "There's something wrong with him…." And as she said this, she saw she was right; his face was unnaturally pale, and he was clutching his lower stomach painfully, although he hadn't been hit there before.

Sasaki squinted at the mat. "Yeah….something's going on…." he said uneasily.

"Wait!" Akako said again, louder, and heads turned toward her. She rushed down from the bleachers and approached the judges' stand, registering numbly that Tora had followed her from behind as well.

"Excuse me, we need a time out, something's happened to Hiro––"

The judge peered over his glasses and affirmed this, then he raised a whistle to his lips; and just as the shrill sound echoed across the gymnasium, Fujiwara landed a successful kick to Hiro's shin, and he fell to the ground.

"No!" Akako gasped, dashing forward.

Hiro was leaning against the mat, sweating profusely, and he was still clutching his stomach as if in great pain.

"Oh my," sounded Tora's voice just behind her. "What a pity….the victory was very close, wasn't it?"

But she didn't have the spare attention to get angry at him then.

"What happened?" she asked Hiro, putting an arm under his elbow to support him. He couldn't answer. Thankfully some of the supervising staff had come forward as well, and they took over, putting him on a stretcher. He lay down, his hand still on his stomach.

"Are you––" Akako started, but then she suddenly remembered the drink that he had had earlier and gave a large gasp, "––Hiro, you aren't––"

"Lactose….intolerant…." he finished painfully, his face scrunched up.

"Ah," Tora interjected at this point. "Must've slipped my mind. There was milk in the tea earlier, I think…."

Then the announcer came on again, "Folks, there seems to be somewhat of a mishap regarding our student Hiro Hamada. Unfortunately, despite this handicap, the judges have convened and decided to deduct thirty points from Hiro-shi's team, since Fujiwara-shi still managed to make him hit the mat…."

"I'm….sorry," Hiro said, and the words seemed to come with great effort. "But….we still came in….second place….I hope….it'll be….enough…." He grunted in discomfort as the staff began carrying him out of the gymnasium, presumably to let him rest in the infirmary.

She turned to Tora in fury. "You did it on purpose, didn't you? You knew, when you gave him that drink––all along, you––"

He merely shrugged, the maddening smirk still on his face.

"Mizuhara!" Sasaki called to her all of a sudden, and she looked up to see him running down from the bleachers. "Mizuhara," he repeated, breathless. "Even though––even though he's gone, can't you go in his place?"

"What?" she said, alarmed. "What do you–"

"You can fight too, can't you?" said Sasaki desperately. "That day when I met you, in the cafeteria, I saw you. You can––you can take Hiro's place, right?"

He was right. If she could somehow sub in, then she could redeem the points, and the victory would be theirs again….it was a chance she had to take if she wanted those scholarships back at all.

"Well, Mizuhara…." Tora said, smirking. "It'll be interesting to see how you'll put this right."

She was boiling with fury, but now was not the time for it. "Yeah, okay. I'll sub in," she said sharply, pushing down her emotions. "I'll need to change." She swished past Tora, glared at him, and hissed in his ear, "You've had your fun. Now quit messing around." She didn't linger long enough for him to make a response.

"Excuse me, judge," Akako said, as she approached the judges' stand. "I would like to request a rematch."

The judge in glasses gave her a calculating stare. "Yes, I suppose the circumstances for Hiro-shi's defeat are rather unclear….you are on the same team, yes?"

"Yes."

"Very well," he nodded, and Akako hardened her resolve. "You may proceed to a rematch." He tapped the announcer on the shoulder and relayed the change in plans.

Akako allowed herself to be led to the dressing rooms; five minutes later she emerged, dressed in a white judogi, her long black hair tied back in a low pony.

"The final round will now be between a fellow teammate of the unfortunate Hiro Hamada, Mizuhara Akako, and Fujiwara Akihito. What an unexpected surprise! Finalists, if you would please make your way to the mat."

The audience was deafening. Akako kicked off her shoes and socks, her heart pounding as she climbed up the stairs to the mat on the platform. She couldn't remember the last time she was in a Judo match….it must've been years and years ago.

"Again, in this round we will not only see Judo techniques, but also various techniques borrowed from other areas of martial arts. Earlier rounds concentrated on grappling; however, the final round will focus on the sparring skills."

Akako took a deep breath. No grappling. That was good. Her frame had always been on the lighter side; she wasn't sure she could overpower anyone in grappling, even if they were a good head shorter than her. She stepped into the center of the mat and faced Fujiwara. They shook hands and bowed.

"You will have fifteen minutes to knock your opponent down. The clock will start in three….two….one….and begin!"

A large screen on the opposite wall displayed a countdown timer: 14:59. 14:58. 14:57. Akako inhaled deeply again, stepping back with one foot and bending her knees. There were a few tense moments as she and Fujiwara circled each other, awaiting the first attack. She glowered at him, while his face remained blank.

Suddenly he lunged forward, lashing out with his fist. She felt his knuckles graze her but she had moved away in time, leaping to another section of the mat. The crowd booed.

But he was fast. Very fast. Concentrate, she told herself. Focus.

When he came at her again, time seemed to slow down; her vision tunneled around him. Vaguely, she heard the announcer making booming comments, but she wasn't listening.

She came forward and met Fujiwara halfway while he was in the middle of his offensive, then aimed a blow with her palm. He blocked it with his wrist and whirled around to deliver a kick, which she ducked under. The wild rhythm continued: she would attack, but always was met with a block; and he would strike, but could never seem to land a blow. She moved faster than she knew, spinning, her limbs practically flying, her white robes whooshing with her movements. Their spar took them around the mat, dodging, hitting, spiraling around each other.

Around the ten minute mark, Akako made her first mistake.

She had pulled up into a butterfly kick, but the momentum carried her too high up. She realized it too late, and she knew her opponent saw it too. While she was still in the last quarter of her midair spin, he grabbed onto her ankle in the air; she saw him smile sickeningly, and he twisted his wrist hard. There was a snap. She cried out in pain and somehow managed to land, wobbly, on one leg.

Tora stood up fast, rushing down from the bleachers.

"Kaichou––" came Maki's voice from somewhere behind him.

But he wasn't listening. He pushed his way through the packed audience, trying to make it to the floor of the gym.

The announcer was rambling excitedly in his ringing voice. Akako thought she saw a faraway flash of blond hair whip past her field of vision, but didn't pursue it. Her ankle….it was sprained at best, but from the pain, it could've been much worse. She tested it, trying to put her foot down, but pain lanced up her leg, making her eyes water. She grimaced. How could the judges not have noticed? In any other match of Judo, this kind of foul play was enough cause to be disqualified. Fujiwara must've moved too quickly for anyone to see, she realized with a feeling of horror. To the audience, her sprained ankle looked like the result of a bad landing. That cheating asshole, she thought scathingly as she lowered a glare onto him again. I'll make him pay.

Still, continuing on one foot was not easy. She could block him, but she was no longer mobile enough to evade blows. Seeing her weakness, Fujiwara struck at her from several different directions. She withstood them all, the blunt blows knocking the wind out of her, each time arousing dejected boos from the audience. Despite this, though, she never lost balance, making sure not to hit the mat. She couldn't let him win, but she also couldn't keep this up for much longer….

Tora was right behind the judges' panel, watching transfixed as she took fought on in spite of her damaged ankle. Each painful hit she took seemed to reverberate across the platform and somehow hit him, too. He held his breath, waiting for the end of the match, which was sure to come soon….

Akako grit her teeth. She came forward slowly, limping; Fujiwara was really smiling now, she could see that he was confident he could win. She knit her brows, every muscle in her body tensing, preparing for a final, desperate stand. When he struck out at her again, she flipped over his head, gathering enough momentum to do an extra half-flip in order to land upside-down on her hands. The audience gave a loud gasp. She was behind him now; she had the advantage. Her legs in the air, she kicked him square in the back and he doubled over, unprepared for her attack. In the few milliseconds when he was down, she spun over onto her knees and pushed him to the ground with her forearm against his throat, her other fist raised above his face.

The audience roared, jumping to their feet. A chant of "Miyabigaoka, Miyabigaoka" rose up in the stands.

"Wow! Unbelievable!" The announcer sounded giddy. "Mizuhara Akako pulled through with a victory against the formidable Fujiwara Akihito, using a very risky maneuver––and with a sprained ankle too, it looks like! Thanks to her, this year's Triplet Triathlon Trophy goes to Hiro Hamada, Mizuhara Akako, and Sasaki Haruto! If the winning team could please come up to the panel to receive their medals…."

Akako's ankle was swelling steadily, her vision blurring; the lights were too bright and everything too loud….her entire weight was hanging on the railing of the platform, which she clutched onto tightly…..her feet dragged behind her….her ankle seemed to be hurting more than it was just minutes ago….walking down the stairs was grueling, painful––

"Mizuhara!"

It was Tora, sounding breathless. Swiftly, he ran up to her and put an arm under her shoulders, supporting her.

"Igarashi…." she gasped, immediately gripping onto his steady arm. She felt sudden thankfulness at his being here, even despite him sabotaging the match earlier.

"Put your arm around me," he told her, and limply, without the will to protest, she raised her arm around his neck. "Jeez….what kind of a landing was that to mess up your ankle so badly?"

"It wasn't––my landing," she said, forcing her words out through the pain. She was dripping with sweat, her skin damp. "It was Fujiwara. He grabbed my ankle when I was doing the kick." She added for good measure, "Asshole."

"Hm," said Tora expressionlessly. "People do whatever they can to win."

She didn't have the energy to respond, instead concentrating on where to step next. It was very difficult to walk. She placed a foot wrong somewhere, causing her to cry out.

"Lean on me a little more," Tora said evenly, and he pulled his arm tighter around her. She felt herself go slightly weaker at the knees. "Don't hurt yourself."

"I think….it's too late for you to say that," Her eyes were watering again. "Why….why is this campus so damn big….?!"

"Just a bit farther," he reassured her. Then he smirked, saying, "The number times you've been at my mercy these past few days is amusing…."

"Just….shut up, Igarashi…."

When they made it to infirmary, it was with immense relief that she collapsed onto the bed, cradling her ankle.

"Mizuhara," said Tora, apparently amused, "if you'd just given up at that point you probably wouldn't be going through all this pain…."

"Well, I wasn't going to let him win," Akako said forcefully through gritted teeth. "We needed those points….all thanks to you, you idiot…."

"You really are so stubborn," he chuckled, and he and pulled up a chair across from her and set down a first aid kit. "Here, let me see your ankle."

She glared at him warily.

"It's fine," he said, noticing her apparent distrust. "Nurse is busy with Hiro right now, anyways."

"I'll take care of it myself, thanks," she said coolly, turning away. "You can leave now."

There was a heavy pause. "Will you really?" he said, his eyes amused, and before she could react, he closed a hand tightly around her injury.

Pain stabbed through her leg. " _Ackk_ _—_ _!_ Ow—stop, stop, _stop,_ stop— _okay,_ _you've made your point—please_ _—_ _!"_

He released her ankle, his eyebrows raised.

"Jesus—!" She quickly retracted her leg back onto the bed and put her hands over it protectively.

"Let me see your ankle," he repeated impatiently. "You're obviously in no condition to 'take care of it yourself.'"

She stared bad-temperedly into his light eyes for another moment, and he stared right back. Could she trust him?

Relentingly, Akako stretched out her leg again. He took her purple, swollen ankle into his lap and glanced briefly up at her, his eyes unreadable. Then, satisfied, he lightly rolled up the white pant-cuff of her judogi.

"This might hurt a little," he warned her softly without looking at her at all, and he removed a roll of bandages from the kit.

"Okay," she breathed, wincing, bracing herself and half-expecting him to do something mean again; but his hands were exceedingly gentle as he wrapped her foot and ankle in a tight layer of bandages. His blond hair was a little tousled from their walk here, and his citrine eyes were absolutely concentrated, his lashes cast downwards. Through the thick smell of ace bandage and antiseptic, he was still close enough for her to make out his scent of faint aftershave and some sort of clean-smelling laundry detergent. Then she realized she was staring and quickly looked away.

"Stay still…."

"Ow." She flinched involuntarily when he accidentally brushed across a bruise on her foot.

"Sorry," he said, and immediately removed his hand from her injury.

"S'alright," she grumbled.

"There, I'm done," he said, packing away the kit. "You might want to stay here for a while, so the nurse can check up on you."

She nodded numbly. Then a loud, enthusiastic voice pierced suddenly through the quiet, "Mizuhara!"

She turned her head slowly and saw Sasaki bounding toward the bed, beaming, his soft peachy hair flouncing up and down. Before she could say anything, he tackled her down in a rather warlike embrace.

"Oh….hello," she managed awkwardly from underneath his weight, stiffly raising a hand to pat him twice on the back.

Though her field of vision was quite obstructed by Sasaki, she could still see Tora's smirk transform rapidly into a faint scowl.

"There's people trying to rest right now, you know," said Tora loudly.

"Sorry," said Sasaki hastily. He removed himself, glancing at Tora, but then sat down in the chair in front of the bed, "It's just….we did it, Mizuhara!"

She sat up on her elbows. "Did what? You don't mean—"

He was giggling, unable to contain his excitement. "Yes! When I was leaving with the trophy, the chairman of the board came up to me and congratulated us––well, not us, obviously, because you and Hiro weren't there, but he meant to congratulate all of us––and he said that he was really impressed with our performances, even more so after learning that we were scholarship students! He even said that he'd reinstate the all of scholarships!"

"Wow," smiled Akako, feeling much better in spite of her ankle. "Wow, that's great, I––" she caught sight of Tora smirking again behind Sasaki, "––I certainly hope nothing like this ever happens again," she finished vociferously, glaring at Tora.

"As do I," he agreed politely, smiling.

Sasaki was grinning as well, unaware of the meanings hidden underneath both of their words. "I've got to go back to the gym now," he announced happily. "They want to take photos….I'm sorry you and Hiro can't make it. I'll tell them to come back later."

He got up and and gave her another fleeting hug. She went stiff. Tora cleared his throat audibly and turned away, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Alright, I'll go now, " said Sasaki. She felt relieved when he released her again. "Thanks for everything, Mizuhara!" She waved feebly at him as he left.

"Igarashi," she said as soon as Sasaki had gone. _"Don't_ try anything like this ever again."

He gave her a nasty smile. "Why shouldn't I?"

"I told you before, it's very tiring to fight against you."

"And I told you to surrender."

"Then…." Akako began uncertainly. She had a question burning on her mind for a while now, but now that she had the chance to ask she felt apprehensive. "Then why—why did you help me like this?"

"I—" He looked surprised at first, his citrine eyes wide; but then quickly smiled his devilish smile and said, "Because watching you fight wouldn't be fun if you had a broken ankle."

She scowled. She didn't know what she had been expecting, but for some reason she felt a little disappointed. It was Igarashi, anyway. There was nothing she could count on with him. "Well, thanks for your insincerity," Akako muttered sarcastically, crashing back into the bed. "But I'm serious. Don't try me again."

He gave her a smirk. "We'll see." Then he turned and walked out of the door as well, leaving her alone in the white infirmary.

Who was Tora, really? Confused thoughts began swirling around in her head as she lay on her back, staring at the ceiling. He had rather gallantly saved her twice in a row now (the thought made her cringe), but that didn't change the fact that he was still a manipulative, underhanded jackass. She thought back to the conversation she'd had at the lunch table, when Tomu had said he was a 'womanizing lightweight.' She didn't know what to make of it all.

You know, a small voice in her head said, it is best not to dwell on such matters.

* * *

Tora stood outside of the infirmary door, his citrine eyes turned upwards at the sky.

He replayed the moment Akako had fallen injury in the judo match, the sickening crunch that had resounded throughout the gymnasium, the shout of pain, the look on her pale face as her eyes teared up.

He'd even been caught off guard when she'd asked him why he was helping her, so he'd just said something she was probably expecting him to say. But in all honesty, he'd caught himself off-guard too. Since she stood up to him about the swimming pools, she had captured his attention; the scholarship business was just a means of poking the dragon in the eye, letting him see how she would choose to act….Yes, he had initially planned on sabotaging the match to make her sub in, but he still couldn't quite stomach it when her ankle got sprained because of that, and he still couldn't stop himself from rushing forward to save her (again). What had he expected, really, when he knowingly put her in harm's way? What surprised him more was his own distress at the situation, and it was his stupid conscience, added together with Akako's rigid stubbornness, that he had to blame for it.

He shook his head. He would put it behind him for now. He would even do as she suggested and not try anything for a while; he didn't think he could bear the discomfort of his conscience revealing itself again if it meant that he would uncover more of the side of himself he chose to keep carefully hidden.

"...You only mean trouble for me, Mizuhara Akako…." he muttered to himself, smiling slightly.

Having arrived at this, he turned and made his way back to the gymnasium for the awards ceremony.

* * *

In the now nearly-empty gym, a petite, purple-haired girl was left sitting in the bleachers, scowling. She'd seen how Tora had dashed in to help the injured girl, and she'd seen how worried he'd been when she was fighting on the mat. Right away, she'd hated that girl, without having seen her up close at all. She rose from the stands angrily, tossing her lavender hair over her shoulder.

 _I'll show him,_ she thought vengefully. _I'll make him regret everything…._

* * *

 _*judogi_ is the traditional uniform used for Judo practice and competition.

* * *

 _Because I suck there are no chapter extras. Your author shamefully apologizes :'(_

* * *

 _Review replies:_

AusllyBeliever: I AGREE Tora was being a positive ass xD And yeah the manga's really good, it makes me feel a little nostalgic looking back on it now haha

MistWizard: Thanks, and as for your question...keep reading to find out ;)

NiloReads: GAHH I'm so glad you liked it! Your review made my day :))) You asked for a quick update...and I realize two-month gap isn't exactly the best...but I hope you liked this chapter!

 _Thanks to all of you for your support! I love you guys :33_

* * *

 _First draft 12/23/17_


	8. Hell Hath No Fury

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thanks to everyone who's supporting this story! :3 Just a heads up: I'll probably go back and add more backstory to this chapter later since I am introducing a new character here._

 _Review replies are at the end of the chapter._

 _Other than that...enjoy the fluff? If you did, don't be shy to fav/follow/review! ;)_

* * *

Chapter Six: Hell Hath No Fury

* * *

During the following weeks, Akako found that, for the first time in her life, people were beginning to warm up to her. Since the day she had won the championship, many had come up to her and congratulated her on her accomplishment, impressed with her victory. Likewise, members of the council began trusting her more, speaking to her with gradual ease.

As Akako was walking to the bus stop after school in an oversized white puffer coat, she noted that the seasons shifted too, along with the moods of the school. The sky had lost the last remnants of its warm glow, instead assuming the cool, light blue of November as the temperatures plummeted. Her cheeks were pink in the cold and her breath floated before her, a cloud of shimmering condensation in the icy air.

But then, halfway to the bus station, a sleek black SUV swerved in front of her, its wheels squealing to a stop. She faltered, blinking hard as the headlights struck her straight in the face. Two men dressed in identical black suits with sunglasses and serious-looking faces stepped out of the car. They said something to each other, glanced at her, and nodded, jogging forward. Before she had time to react, they had grabbed her by the arm on either side, dragging her into the car.

"Hey!" Akako protested furiously, writhing in their grip, but they were too strong for her to resist. "What are you doing?!"

The men remained silent, shoving her into the backseat and simultaneously tying her hands behind her back. Terror flashed through her. Akako kicked wildly at her abductors, but it seemed to have no impact. The car began moving.

"What is this—?!"

"Shut up," a new voice said.

There was a girl sitting in a seat across from her, her arms crossed. Akako squinted, trying to make out the owner of the voice, but her face was covered by her hood; the only thing she could see were thick locks of light purple hair.

"You," the girl said, "you're Mizuhara Akako, aren't you?"

"Yes…." Akako said, going still, her heart pumping. "What—"

"I know you're a good fighter," said the girl, a touch of pride in her voice. "So I hired the top-notch hitmen. You won't get anywhere by struggling. Might as well save your energy."

"The hell is this?! Who are you?!" Akako demanded angrily. "You've no right to—"

"I have every right," the girl hissed. "Now tell me," she went on forcibly, "what is your relationship with Igarashi Tora?"

Akako stared at her, sure she was crazy. " _What?_ He's my student council president….? What do you—"

"Don't lie to me! I saw you two at the tournament!"

"Could you please tell me what's going on—?!"

 _Thwack._ The girl slapped her hard across the face. Akako gasped. Pain blossomed over her cheek.

"Tell me the truth!" She sounded hysterical now. "What does Tora-kun see in you? Why is he interested in you?!"

"You're insane," Akako panted shallowly, still recovering from the blow.

"How did you seduce Igarashi Tora?!"

Akako had no words. "I don't—I didn't—"

"Well, let me say this," the girl spat, "you stay away from him. Don't even touch him."

"I'm not—!"

"Stop," the girl snapped, addressing the hitmen. "Let her out. She's not useful anymore."

Akako felt the bonds on her wrists break, and then suddenly she was being thrown out of the door, the car barely stopping to allow for her exit. She tumbled onto the ground, causing unwitting passerby on the street to veer around her.

Akako stood shakily, smoothing over her coat.

 _What had just happened?_ She'd been temporarily abducted on the orders of an insane girl with purple hair, who had an unexplained obsession with Tora….there was only one clear course of action right now. Fingers trembling slightly, she took out her phone and dialed him, praying that he'd pick up quickly. On the third ring, there was a response from the other line.

"Hello?"

"Igarashi," Akako said breathlessly, trying to calm her frayed nerves. "Can you talk?"

 _"Right now?"_

"Yes! Right now."

 _"What happened?"_

"It's—I don't—can you come here?"

There was a pause. Akako's hands jittered at her sides.

" _...Where are you?"_

"I'm—" She looked around and immediately recognized the sharp outline of the Watari Museum in the distance. "I'm at Harajuku," she said quickly. "Are you—?"

There was another pause, longer this time.

" _...I'm on my way."_

Akako exhaled in relief, leaning against the wall of a building behind her. She put a hand to her forehead. _That girl was crazy, crazy…._

She was still in the midst of these thoughts when Tora arrived, jogging toward her in a long black overcoat, his blond hair fluttering as he ran. He looked perplexed.

"What did you need to talk about?"

Akako took a deep breath and faced him, launching into her narrative about being kidnapped and questioned by the girl.

Tora was frowning. "How did you come by her?"

"I don't know—it's just—next thing I knew I was in the car….and the crazy girl had _purple hair,_ what else?"

But Tora had gone white as a sheet. "Yumi….Yumi Chiharu…."

"Who?"

Tora swept his eyes around the plaza then pulled her into the nearest building, moving so fast that she didn't have time to protest. The lights were dimmer, and the doors whooshed closed behind her. She blinked and looked around. They were in a supermarket.

"What—why are we in here?"

Tora shot another glance out of the window, then said, "Yumi….she has spies everywhere."

"Who is this Yumi?" Akako demanded, feeling as though she might burst if she didn't get any answers soon. "Why did she abduct me? I want to know what's going on!"

"She—well, she and I have history."

Akako balked. " _You and her have history."_

"...yeah," Tora said, rubbing his neck. "And she can be….intense."

She scoffed disbelievingly. "Oh yeah, just a little intense! What exactly did you do to her to make her so obsessed with you?!"

Tora smirked, passing her a meaningful look. "I may have uh….accidentally led her on wrong before," he cleared his throat, "Looks like she's taken it badly…."

"I can't believe you. You're shameless, you are…." Akako said, recoiling, steely.

"Well, you have to go talk to her."

He smirked and raised a brow. "And what makes you think I'd be so inclined to help you?"

She glared at him, silently cursing his inability to ever take things seriously. "She tried to _kidnap_ me, for God's sake, all 'cause she's under the impression that we're a couple or something—"

Tora cracked a crooked smile, "I'm flattered."

"—try telling that to her the next time she kidnaps me. Who knows what she could do next."

Tora yawned nonchalantly. "It's true, I might—" his tone changed into a sudden grave voice, his cat-like eyes now devoid of all humor, "— _my reputation_ might suffer a great deal because of this—"

Akako rolled her eyes. Of course, it was his reputation he was worried about. "...God forbid your dumb actions have consequences…."

But he'd stopped short and turned to face her. "You never told me how you ran into her."

"I didn't. I was walking. _She_ almost ran into _me._ In her car. With the damn headlights on, at four in the afternoon—"

There was a hint of irritation in his voice when he raised his brow and said, "Don't you know how to watch where you're going?"

" _Excuse me?_ Your jealous ex almost ran over me in her car because she hates you and you're trying to blame this on me?"

"Well just….don't walk home anymore."

"What do you want me to do, _fly?"_

"Don't walk home _alone_ anymore."

She let out a harsh laugh. "Sorry, but not everyone has their own little personal entourage or whatever—"

"I'll take you home."

She was confused, then annoyed again, and she smiled, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Oh, don't concern yourself about me. I would _hate_ to—"

"I told you it's my reputation I'm concerned about." He looked impatient. "If you were attacked again, and news of it spread, who do you think is going to receive all the blame from the media? I do happen to be a public figure, you know."

"Do you think I _care_ about your reputation? I think I'll take my chances and go." She made to leave, but he held her back by the shoulder.

His eyes were unyielding. "How are you going to stop me?"

"I—"

In a flash of movement he had her pinned against the wall, his face turned down to look her in the eyes.

A gasp escaped from her lips. "Igarashi!" she hissed under her breath. "What do you think you're doing? There's people—!" She tried to squirm away, but his grasp on her was unrelenting.

"Even if you insist on being stubborn," he breathed, smiling, "how are you going to stop me?"

" _Just let me go—!"_ She felt ill at ease in such dizzying proximity to him, not unlike the kind of feeling someone gets being locked in the same cage as a tiger. The smell of detergent and aftershave that was all around her again made her stomach jump sharply and sent a tingle down her spine; she was now all too aware of the heat of his body that was so close to her own. His citrine eyes were suddenly intense. She couldn't stop herself from staring back into them, tracing his lashes with her gaze _(why was it that boys always seemed to have such long lashes?_ )….but then anger boiled up inside her, and with a yell, she ripped herself free of his grip, storming away from him.

"I'm following you, Mizuhara!" came Tora's voice from farther behind her.

"Fine!" she shouted, throwing open the door to the supermarket and stepping onto the street, which was filled with people as usual, the noise of cars and buses overlapping loudly as they drove by.

"Where are you going?" Tora asked, jogging to catch up.

"To the metro," she growled, her brow creased. "It's the fastest way to my neighborhood."

And despite her many protests, Tora trailed her all the way to the metro station, through the ticket booths, and down underground to the platforms.

"Is it always so dingy down here?" he said loudly, looking around himself. "I've never been in the subway before."

Akako rolled her eyes, barely even surprised at his remark. "Well you better get used to it, princess. We'll be spending a lot of time in here. Or you could just leave," she added as a hopeful afterthought.

He smiled wickedly, leaning in close. "Nice try, Mizuhara."

A train whooshed in suddenly, the cool, robotic voice of the subway announcer pervading the air. The doors opened, and they filed into the train. All the seats had already been taken so they ended up standing side by side, their arms raised to grab the handles that hung from the ceiling. It felt odd to be standing next to him like this. It made her realize that he was quite a bit taller than her; the top of her own head probably only reached the tip of his nose. The thought gave her no pleasure at all.

A couple of stops down the line, a wave of people crowded into the train; they were caught in the midst of the Tokyo rush hour. Akako was suddenly squashed uncomfortably into the corner of the compartment and inevitably, Tora was pushed against her, his hand braced on the wall so as to prevent himself from crashing into her. For the second time that day, their faces were mere inches apart with Akako sandwiched between him and the wall, his now-familiar scent surrounding her. Akako felt a warm flush creep into her neck; she turned her head away purposely, feeling awkward and far too warm, but not before she caught a smirk on his face that told her he was enjoying this predicament more than she'd have liked.

After what seemed like an eternity, the train ground to a halt at Akako's stop; she hurriedly pushed past him through the throng of people and stumbled onto the platform.

"Well, that was fun," said Tora, smiling as he dusted off his black overcoat. "Let's do it again sometime."

Akako didn't respond in an effort to mask her lingering embarrassment. She squinted up at the lighted signs above her and decidedly headed for the exit.

The streets outside were quieter than the subway, although there were still masses of people. Evening was well in progress; the city was bathed in a fading golden-pink light, and from Akako's vantage at the metro station, she could see its tall skyscrapers dyed a faint warm color as the sun sank lower toward the horizon. The city was alive at this time. A streetcar whooshed by as she and Tora walked silently across a high bridge, the traffic on the streets flowing noisily and incessantly, the numbing sounds of passerby crossing each other in the street as a heavy chill began to set in. It felt foreign to be with someone in the streets. The city was so huge, so dwarfing; the two of them walking side by side were laughingly insignificant. But it didn't really feel that way. She recalled just weeks prior, she had been so used to going home alone, silently, immersed entirely in her own thoughts….but now that Tora was here beside her, his mere presence was enough to distract her from all that. She wasn't sure if it as a good feeling or not.

She frowned. "You don't have to follow me anymore, Igarashi," Akako said for what seemed like the thousandth time, trudging on an uphill street. "It's not dangerous."

He turned and retorted, "You don't know Yumi like I do. And you'd do something reckless, knowing you. How am I supposed to have any peace of mind, between you two troublesome people?"

Akako bit back a sharp rebuke; there were almost at her house anyways, it was pointless to argue. They had been walking for almost ten minutes now, and her apartment building was just on the other side of the street, over the crest of the hill. Most of the people had disappeared off these streets, this being a weekday evening in a residential area; Akako and Tora were the only ones on the road.

She was walking at a fast pace, wanting to get into the refuge of her apartment to warm her hands, which were growing numb in the cold. Tora kept up easily, his long strides much more relaxed than hers. Her breath clouded before her, her face stinging slightly. She allowed herself a quick glance at him; he hadn't spoken in the longest time. The light made his hair look like pure gold, and the high areas of his face had smarted in the cold _. He really was very good-looking,_ was her thought at that moment, studying his cat-like eyes, and also precisely when Tora chose to break the peaceful silence that made his presence almost bearable.

"Mizuhara, you look like a marshmallow in that coat," Tora said teasingly, turning toward her. "Makes me wanna give you a hug."

Akako glowered up at him, tensing immediately. "If you even _dar_ e—"

He laughed, revealing those sharp canines. "Relax," he said, seeming to relish in her annoyance. "I won't do anything." He looked at her wickedly and the glint in his eyes told her there was meant to be a _yet_ tacked to the end of his phrase.

Abruptly she stopped in front the entrance of a gate, behind which stood a series of tall brick buildings. She turned sharply away from him.

"You can leave now," she said stiffly, like she was giving him an order, although she was quite grateful the journey was over. "Don't follow me inside."

He stopped beside her.

"See you," she said, sparing him a rushed wave over her shoulder as she disappeared through the other side of the gate.

* * *

Tora woke the next morning to the steady beeping sound of his digital alarm clock, which was followed in quick succession by the morning light pouring into his loft-sized room through the smartglass automated panoramic windows on the adjacent wall, overlooking the just-brightening city skyline. The time was 6:30 a.m, which meant Maki and his entourage would be arriving in half and hour to leave with him to school.

Stifling a yawn, he climbed out of bed, changed into his newly-starched, freshly-pressed uniform, and threw his silk sleep clothes back onto the unmade bed for the servants to pick up later. By the time he had finished brushing his teeth and combing through his hair, a large, steaming breakfast had already been set up for him in the dining hall. His father was not at home, so he ate alone, like he did most days.

Their enormous, upgraded mansion was in fact more empty than it was ever full. Tora couldn't remember the last time there had been someone to eat with at mealtimes, not counting the occasions his father had important guests over for dinner. Even the household servants ate separately, preferring to dine together down in the first-floor kitchen like some exclusive high-school clique that he wasn't good enough for. The thought of it made him want to scoff. He was used to it by now, but he could remember thinking how lonely it was to be above everyone when he was a child. Not that it was his fault. And he certainly wouldn't be caught dead thinking that he would ever want to be relieved of his status.

As he dug into his breakfast, thoughts of Yumi surfaced to his mind. He knew perhaps she had other things planned; she had absolutely no limits and he was sure she could stoop to any level to get her way. Her father was a ruthless politician, too, and she had learned her most devious, manipulative ways from him.

Akako had been kidnapped yesterday. It had frightened her, but it frightened him more. Still, it was a nice change: for once he was fighting for something besides money, and for once there was a bit of uncertainty in the outcome of the situation. Then it occurred to him that he would not like it very much if Akako came to more harm because of him, because of something he did. There was the catch. There was always a catch; it was like this in business too.

Sometimes his own conscience caught him when he least expected it. He really wished he had none; keeping one was more trouble than it was worth. The worst of it all was that it made it seem like he _cared_. But of course he still couldn't to tell Akako that was reason he'd been so worried. He'd spouted some lie about protecting his reputation….because the last person he'd bothered so much with hadn't exactly ended well with him.

He pictured her face: her short brown hair, her amber colored-eyes, and wearing that characteristic maid's uniform. It was pathetic. Looking back, he couldn't believe that he'd sent her off to _England_ to be reunited with her goddamn green-eyed prince, when the more self-satisfying thing to do would have been to make her stay in Japan with him. He blamed his conscience again.

Thinking of Ayuzawa Misaki was like looking at a blurry old photograph. She seemed very far away and distant, from another world, another universe, though it was only several months ago when he last saw her. It was strange; the thought of her did not elicit that familiar tugging at his heart, nor did he feel bitter like he expected; there was only a casual acceptance, as if he'd forgotten what it felt like to care for her. He did not mind at all.

Quite unbidden, the other person suddenly popped back into his head right then; he could see her clearly in his mind's eye:

It was yesterday, standing on the uphill street in the cold, pinkish sunset, and _she_ was there too. " _See you"_ was what she had said. She'd said it very fast, and he'd almost missed it, that short, casual, seemingly insignificant phrase; he wouldn't have heard it if he hadn't insisted on walking her home. But it was first time he could recall Akako ever said a proper goodbye to him. He paused in chewing his rice. Hm. It gave him an oddly warm feeling.

He was thankfully delivered out of this inexplicable train of thought by a buzzing from his phone, a text from Maki:

Maki Kanade: 6:45 a.m.  
 _Arrived early. Ready?_

Silently, Tora set down his chopsticks, slipped his phone into his pocket, and put on a coat, making his way to the front door of his house. He firmly made up his mind to put a stop to this Yumi business. It would be far too embarrassing if she ousted him, and if she managed to bring Akako down too — no, if his skill in persuasion was worth anything, he wouldn't let it happen.

"Good morning, Maki," he greeted the blue-haired boy, who was standing in front of the motorcade parked in the house's expansive front driveway.

"President," came Maki's predictable reply. "Shall we leave, then?"

Tora nodded, allowing himself to be escorted into his limousine. They arrived at the school promptly after a few minutes of driving, having stayed ahead of the morning rush. Tora checked his watch (which was, of course, the latest smart design by Breitling and had cost no less than nine-hundred thousand yen); it was just after 7:00 a.m; there was another half hour until class started.

Then, after a moment, he saw Yumi's white limousine pull up to the front gate of the school. He straightened. He hadn't seen Yumi in months since they fell out, and he wasn't sure if she would welcome him peacefully. He watched her step out of the car dressed in a custom-tailored uniform that flaunted her curves, paired with high heels to make up for her diminished height.

"Maki," Tora addressed him sharply, his gaze flickering between Yumi, who was still a few yards away, and Maki, who was now looking at him most attentively. "You go on without me. I have some business to attend to."

Maki gave him a bow and left with the entourage, headed in the direction of the student council room.

"Tora-kun!" came Yumi's high-pitched voice just seconds later. She skipped toward him, sporting a fake pout.

He put on his most charming smile, preparing for the worst. "Yumi, how nice to see you!"

Her face was dramatically made up so that she looked much older than she was, and her hair was curled zealously in purple ringlets around her face. Though her extravagant appearance might've appealed to him a year ago, currently, he felt nothing but slight irritation in her presence.

"Toraaaaa," she whined, stretching out his name, and he was jolted out of his thoughts. She batted her lashes at him and stuck out her chest. "It's been so long. Come on, let's go somewhere more….private. I've been dying to catch up." It was all he could do to keep the smile on his face; he could imagine Akako cringing if she saw where he was right then. But he didn't protest as she led him by the arm into the school, not even when she squeezed him uncomfortably into a dark, cramped closet underneath the staircase. She scooted in after him, and there was barely enough room for the two of them; her face was now only a foot away from his own.

"Now, Tora," Yumi purred softly, placing a hand on his chest. "Why didn't you ever come visit me?"

Tora managed a smile and extricated her hand from him with some difficulty in the narrow space. "I thought I had been clear when I said we should cut ties."

She made a face, tilting her blue eyes up at him. He restrained himself from cringing yet again. He didn't recall that she had been this annoying to deal with a year ago.

" _I_ didn't," Yumi continued, oblivious to this thoughts. "How could you just leave me like that? I've missed you."

"Have you, now?" he said, smirking, knowing full well the reasons behind her interest in him most likely had to do with his status.

"Yes….I wish we could go back," she breathed. "We could've been….so much more…." She loosely grabbed onto his jacket, pulled herself forward, and he saw that her eyes had dropped abruptly to his lips. But there was no alarm in his mind as he pushed her away quite easily, though the smirk was gone from his face.

Her blue eyes flicked up to him, and he detected a trace of hysteria in them. "Why?!" She demanded suddenly, and she latched her hands onto his face to try and pull him toward her again, only to be wrestled away once more; this time, she put up a great deal of struggle, causing him at one point to knock his elbow painfully against the wall. He loomed over her.

"Stop," Tora said softly, feeling another bout of irritation come over him now. "You're only making yourself more pathetic."

"Why won't you have me anymore?!" She shouted. "Aren't I pretty? Don't I have a nice body, too? And yet…." Then her tone shifted abruptly, and somehow he knew what she was going to say before she said it, "...or is it because of Mizuhara?"

His fingers twitched for just a fraction of second, and although there might have been some truth to her statement, he said instead with a smirk, "Why bring her into this all of a sudden? Quite frankly, Yumi….you bore me." He saw her eyes change; she looked as if she'd just been slapped in the face. "Do you think I don't know why you're after me? If you and I become partners, then the money I come to inherit becomes yours to use as well. Your father will finally have command of the Igarashi Company to further his own political career. Really, Yumi, it surprises me that even you are this transparent," he said, and pushed past her to open the door. Light poured in. "Stop pursuing me," he said over his shoulder. "You might as well save yourself some face."

He walked calmly away from the closet, his hands stuck in his pockets; though inwardly, he was still uneasy that Yumi would try something again, and this time, Akako might not be lucky enough to get away. He made a silent note to warn her himself as soon as she got to school.

* * *

It was bright and quiet when Akako walked into the hallways of Miyabigaoka, the walls illuminated by the huge chateau windows on the facade of the school. She'd arrived early today, relishing the freshness of the morning. She felt slight apprehension that perhaps Yumi would be waiting for her again, but then again, Akako wasn't sure that she even went to the same school.

At least, she wasn't sure until she opened her locker….and found a gruesome red skull painted messily on the inside of the door. Dread filled her head and leaked all the way down to her toes. She dropped her schoolbag to the floor. There was a crumpled up sheet inside her locker; she quickly snatched it up and flattened it to read:

 _ **MEET ME AT THE ENTRANCE HALL**_

There was no doubt in her mind at all that it was Yumi, and so it was with sharp indignation that she stuffed her bag into the locker and slammed the vandalized door shut. She'd assumed that she'd seen the height of Yumi's outrageousness when she'd been kidnapped in the car the other day. But really, she should've known she was wrong; there was no reason to expect Yumi to back down. _I'll give her a reason,_ Akako thought fiercely, cracking her knuckles as she threw down the note, her jaw set; and against her better judgment, she set out to the front hall, stomping rather loudly.

"Hey!" she shouted angrily as soon as she was within earshot of the front hall, and at once she caught a glimpse of Yumi's lavender hair in the silhouette of the tall entryway.

"What do you want this time….?!" But her voice trailed away weakly. Having fully walked through the door, she now saw that a large crowd—mostly girls—had gathered in the hall, leaving an large empty area in the center, where Yumi stood with her bodyguards behind her. Akako hadn't been able to see Yumi clearly in the car when they'd first met, but now, her face unobscured, she resembled a live barbie doll; she had clear blue eyes and dark lashes painted with mascara. Her face was slightly tanned but smooth, and the rest of her makeup was done to make it look as if she were about to go on a glamorous stage, along with her fitted uniform and red-bottom heels. She was very pretty in a feminine sort of way, her petite body attractively curvaceous.

"Aha!" Yumi said suddenly, seizing Akako and pulling her to the forefront of the semicircle. "Here she is, the sly woman that stole away our school's most honored and handsome….Igarashi Tora!"

The crowd gasped collectively. The injustice of it all struck another angry chord within Akako, and she tore herself away from Yumi's grasp.

"Okay, stop!" Akako shouted, her dark eyes betraying her anger. "This is enough. You don't get to terrorize me because of a sore spot you have with Igarashi! How about you deal with him yourself and stop dragging me into this nonsense."

But Yumi's crystal blue eyes were glinting with delight. "How can I?" she said in a ringing voice, and the attention of the crowd stuck fast onto her. "You've been leading Tora-san astray ever since the beginning. Look!" She whipped out a large, grainy picture of a limping Akako and Tora, who was helping her get to her feet. Shock ran through her as she realized that this was a snapshot of last week's judo tournament during the triathlon. Goosebumps rose on her arm. She realized that the picture must've been taken in secret, while she and Tora were completely unaware that they were being followed. There were phones in people's hands now; many in the crowd were taking their own photos of Yumi holding up the picture.

"This is the next business leader in the world," Yumi went on in a pitiful tone, although Akako felt sure that she was shining with triumph on the inside. "How dare you make him run after you like some lapdog? You're only bringing him down."

Akako's eyes were troubled and wide. She was now very aware that suddenly, dirty looks were being shot at her from the girls (and some boys) in the crowd. She balked slightly in disbelief. "Hey, I didn't ' _make him run after me—'"_

"Look at her, spreading lies to save herself," Yumi scoffed loudly, lifting her chin to the crowd. "You know what I think? I think she should leave this school."

Murmurs of affirmation lanced through the crowd like a poisonous whisper.

Akako's eyes flitted through the mass of people, and she hoped desperately she might find at least one person who was in disagreement with the rest, who didn't believe what Yumi was saying….but all she found were looks of mixed disgust and incredulity. "Leave me alone," she hissed finally at Yumi, decidedly ignoring the people in the crowd. "You can't bully me into doing anything."

But then Yumi violently tore up the photo and threw it at Akako's feet. "You whore," she spat. You're the one who should leave Tora-san alone."

Someone in the crowd shouted a loud agreement, and before Akako knew it was coming, a large wad of paper came flying toward her. She ducked in alarm just in time, and the paper soared over her head and seemed to sink in slow-motion to the floor, its impact numbingly quiet.

Then pandemonium reigned. Suddenly more items were launched in the air at her, and she put her arms over her head; but she was in the way of too many things. A pencil, a notebook, and someone's half-finished bottle of juice managed to hit her near her ribs, making her catch her breath. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Yumi off to one side, standing smugly between her bodyguards.

Akako gritted her teeth, wanting nothing more than to fly at Yumi in that moment, to throw her fists at her. " _You little—"_

Her sentence was left short when she felt a hand close around her wrist. She looked up in shock to see Tora, his citrine eyes serious; she wondered for a moment if he was a vision; but then, without waiting, he pulled her into a sprint, and the bright entrance hall rushed away behind her.

"Igarashi!" she gasped. A mixture of relief and panic flooded into her head.

She heard the crowd roar as they ran past and Yumi's doll-like face flashed by her vision, looking furious and shouting something Akako couldn't hear.

 _"Where did you—?!"_

He tugged her into an empty classroom and shut the door.

She was out of breath, shaken from the ordeal, and her knees folded underneath her to collide with the floor.

He dropped to a crouch as well, and now his piercing eyes were searching hers intensely. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…." she said, her brows knit, rubbing her wrist. But then she burst out abruptly, " _God_ , I hate her!" she yelled and slammed her fist into the ground (which she regretted immediately after), "Just _why_ does she think— _who does she think she is?!"_

"Listen, Mizuhara," Tora said calmly, in the half-lit classroom she could only dimly make out his expression. "It's probably safer if you keep your distance from now on."

" _What?!"_ she said incredulously. "Even _you_ think I'm up to something now?"

"No, that's not what I meant…." he said, and she thought she saw the slightest glimpse of a smile flit across his face. "It's just...I don't know what she'll try next."

"Oh," she said, relaxing. For a moment she had thought that he too had fallen under the influence of Yumi and her lies….she hadn't expected for that to give her such a fright. Then she added sharply, "Still worried about your reputation, are you?"

"Of course," he said without the slightest hesitation, leaning toward her. The scent of detergent and faint aftershave crept closer. She held her breath, unsure as to why the air felt tight all of a sudden. "But I'll be able to handle this situation. In the meantime," he added, and she was acutely aware of his scrutiny. "Don't do anything stupid."

* * *

extras:

 _"The men remained silent, shoving her into the backseat and simultaneously tying her hands behind her back."_ oOOH Akako more like  
Ak-ABDUCTED

why am i like this

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 _Review replies:_  
  
AusllyBeliever: YEA I kNOW Tora is a lil uhhhhh self-important? But lmao I couldn't find anywhere else to stuff his personal thoughts that I needed to fit in so...yep he gets his own paragraph XD Ty for stickin w me!

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Hope you liked this chapter! Please hmu with a fav/follow/review ;)

 _First draft 12/24/17_


	9. Like A Woman Scorned

_AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello all, sorry for the inactivity! Thanks for your continuous support. Review replies are at the end of the chapter! Please fav/follow as well :) I hope you enjoy the update._

* * *

Chapter Seven: Like A Woman Scorned

* * *

Akako was found standing furiously outside her classroom when the bell rang to signify the start of class. She was staring at a desk in the hallway, _her_ desk, which had been removed from inside the room.

She'd thought that she was used to being the odd one out. But it was different now. This desk, it was a symbol; she knew from the moment she saw it. It meant to tell her that she no longer belonged in this school, that she was no longer welcome here; it couldn't have been plainer if the students that now sat apathetically in the classroom all rose at once and shouted at her, " _Hey! We don't want you here anymore!"_ No doubt this was the effect of Yumi's brainwashing in the entrance hall earlier that morning.

Just then Yumi sauntered by and skipped past her through the open door, flouncing her wavy hair and smiling at Akako in a falsely sweet manner. With much difficulty, Akako once again suppressed the urge to take her by the collar and beat her into pulp. Her mind was still buzzing with hatred as she arduously dragged the desk and chair back into the classroom, and she settled for a dangerous glare aimed at Yumi, who only waved back over her shoulder, her face saccharine.

Akako couldn't concentrate for the rest of the class, so angered was she at being unfairly singled out by Yumi and her crowd. She'd walked listlessly to the staircase to proceed to her next class; her distracted mindset persisted to the point where she didn't even notice when two boys came up behind her and tackled her suddenly to the ground, all in a flash of brown hair and the white and blue of the school uniform. She collided heavily with the cold marble floor at the edge of the stairs and cried out in pain. She heard someone shout, " _Watch out!"_

Suddenly there was a solid downpour of white dust falling from the ceiling, and Akako hid her face from the air, flinching. Then all motion stopped. She coughed loudly and registered that it wasn't dust at all; it was flour, dumped out of a large bucket from the floor above. She clenched her teeth. There was no doubt in her mind that it was Yumi again. _How far was she going to go?_ Did she really hate her to the extent that she would chase her through all her classes just to bully her?

"Oh my god," Akako gasped, suddenly remembering the two boys who'd tackled her down, and immediately she stood and helped them up. "What—are you—are you okay?"

"Oh yes, we're perfectly fine, aren't we, Koji?" one of them said, smiling.

"Of course," the one called Koji answered readily, nodding and brushing off his clothes.

They stood up side by side: One of them was completely covered in flour, his brown hair matted and his uniform chalky. The other was also brown-haired, but he was shorter; and he didn't seem to have been hit with as much flour as his companion.

"I'm Kosuke, by the way," said the shorter one, and he bowed very slightly. "We know you're Mizuhara Akako."

"Yes…." said Akako uneasily, her eyes flickering back and forth between Koji and Kosuke. "How—?"

"We're going to stick by you from now on," said Kosuke, flashing her a large grin. "It's just to make sure Yumi doesn't—"

"Oh. Um….no thanks," said Akako, who'd been startled at first but was now quite alarmed at this new development. The whole situation had escalated to a degree far beyond anything she could've imagined; she was in no hurry to accept that now she needed _bodyguards_ of her own to survive a short school day. She quickly descended the staircase.

"Wait, Mizuhara-san!"

"It's the president's orders," Koji said slightly breathlessly, having followed her down the stairs. "He said we should keep an eye on you."

Akako let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. "Oh, joy…." Was this what Tora meant when he said he'd 'handle the situation?'

Then she looked pitifully back at Koji, taking in his flour-covered facade.

"Well, I suppose you should go wash yourself off, shouldn't you?"

* * *

The two boys kept an aggravatingly close watch on her after that, trailing her everywhere. It was as if she'd grown a tail. They insisted on sitting next to her in class, got up whenever she did (even if it was only to sharpen a pencil), and never let her have more than a foot's radius of personal space. Needless to say, it was annoying beyond relief. But she had long given up hope of trying to shake them off; having already tried and failed several times that morning.

At the lunch table, Yi Hua, Kaon, Tomu, and Sasaki all greeted her new acquaintances politely and invited them to sit, much to Akako's agitation.

"What are you guys here for?" Sasaki asked lightly.

"We're here to guard Mizuhara-san," said Koji, leaning back in his chair. Then he exchanged a glance with Kosuke and they said simultaneously, "President's orders."

"What?" said Sasaki disbelievingly, turning his head rapidly back and forth between Akako and Koji. "Why does she need guards?"

"Hm," said Tomu, smiling. "I don't suppose this has anything to do with Yumi Chiharu, does it?"

Kaon chuckled to herself. "Well….she's certainly entertaining."

Yi Hua interjected seriously, "But she's insane. Last time she was here…." She gave a great shudder.

"Who is this Yumi Chiharu, again?" Sasaki asked.

"She's kaichou-san's — erm — ex-lover," Yi Hua said carefully. "They were never official or anything like that. I doubt he was attached to her at all."

At this point Tomu put in, "He was only fooling around with her, really. I told you, he's a 'womanizing lightweight.'

"He's not the only crazy one, though," said Akako, stabbing her fork through a mushroom that was on her plate. "Yumi thinks I have something to do with why Igarashi left her—well, speak of the devil," she growled, glaring at the doorway as the purple-haired girl strutted into the cafeteria, followed by two of her bodyguards and surrounded by a usual pack of giggling girls.

To Akako's horror, Yumi began making her way to their table, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Her posse of girls followed.

"Well, it's been a long time since I've seen all of you guys," Yumi trilled, pulling up a chair. Behind her, the girls were shooting dirty looks at Akako again, the same as those she'd seen in the crowd that morning.

"Hello, Yumi-chan," Yi Hua said in a strained voice.

Kaon flashed a false smile at her, scooting her teddy bear aside.

"Have any of you guys seen Tora-kun?" she asked, her blue eyes wide and innocent. "I think he's trying to avoid me."

"I would too, if I were him," Akako said with her eyebrows raised. Kaon and Tomu both stifled simultaneous giggles.

Yumi's head whipped around so fast it sent her hair flying. "I never asked your opinion, you ugly slut."

Akako rolled her eyes. The gaggle of girls around the table were also laughing loudly and behind her, and Koji and Kosuke tensed immediately, straightening in their seats.

"Well, at least she's not ugly on the inside," Yi Hua said, sniffing proudly, and at once the smug expression on Yumi's face dissipated, along the girls' laughter. "Maybe if you ate all that makeup you're wearing you wouldn't be either."

"That's right, you're the ugly one here," Sasaki added fiercely, his eyes shining. "Leave us alone."

Yumi shrank back, her face wrinkled in a distasteful expression. She shoved her chair back to the table as she stood, gesturing to her bodyguards. "We're leaving," she snapped, her eyes fixed on Akako. "Anyways, I won't have to put up with you for much longer," she added haughtily. "After all, you should be leaving this school soon, shouldn't you?" Then she whipped around and stalked away, her two bodyguards trailing behind her stoically.

The small crowd of girls remained. One of them, who was holding a bowl of hot soup, leaned down and said, sneering, "Really, you should leave here. We don't want you messing with our Tora-kun anymore."

And she flung the contents of her steaming bowl at Akako's face.

But a large white tray had suddenly come up between Akako and the girl, and the soup splashed noisily onto it instead. Koji and Kosuke were standing now, one of them holding the tray while the other had the girl by the wrist. The girl scoffed, smiling mockingly. "You're lucky you had your bodyguards here, otherwise you'd be so dead."

Something shattered inside Akako. A tsunami of anger came crashing down upon her, and she yelled and lunged at the girl, wanting to sink her fist into her….but she was held back forcefully on either side by Koji and Kosuke, whose grips were stronger than she imagined. The girl, who'd looked frightened at first, let out a peal of shrill laughter, followed by her friends' squealing delight, and they all tossed their hair over their shoulders in a very Yumi-like manner and walked away.

"Let me go—!" Akako hissed, and she could hear Tomu and Kaon laughing boisterously in the faint background. She squirmed in their grasp. "Let me—"

"Sorry," Kosuke said, looking at her rather apologetically. "They're the president's….orders…."

"For goodness' sake!" Akako shouted angrily, and she finally tore herself free. She spun around.

"I'm going to the bathroom!" She announced loudly, and she stormed ill-temperedly toward the door of the cafeteria. To her great annoyance they had gotten up right behind her too and were following her out of the lunchroom. She walked faster and turned the corner to the women's room, and she was about to go in when she realized that the both of them were still right behind her.

Akako turned in disbelief. "You couldn't possibly follow me in there as well—?" But the two boys looked perfectly serious.

She swallowed back another dangerous wave of anger. "Okay," Akako said shakily, trying her best to keep her voice calm as she walked past them and away from the bathroom. "This has gone too far. There are limits, you know—"

"Mizuhara-san, I thought you needed to use the restroom….?"

"I've changed my mind!" she snarled, and this time she made no effort at all to mask her discomposure. "I need to have a word with your — dear — Mr. — President!"

* * *

In retrospect, Tora supposed he shouldn't have been surprised at all when Akako came bursting in through the door of the student council room, her dark eyes flashing dangerously. Close at her tail came Koji and Kosuke, his two classmates that he sent to keep an eye on her that morning after the incident in the entrance hall.

"Igarashi!" she barked without preamble. "We need to talk."

He turned. "Of course," he said, trying in vain to hide his amusement. "What is it—?"

"Call off your boys first," she said harshly, cutting him off, and threw her arm back to point sharply at Koji and Kosuke, who both looked sheepish standing behind her.

He gave them an authoritative nod and they bowed quickly before scurrying away through the door.

"Well, Mizuhara?" he said again, and a smile rose to his face. It was odd to admit, but he liked seeing that smoldering look in her eyes, even if the circumstances for it were regrettable. "I hope you have a good reason for not keeping your distance like I asked."

"Screw keeping my distance," she hissed loudly. "I'm at the end of my patience here. I am about this close —" she held up her thumb and forefinger, showing a miniscule space between them, "—to telling the authorities about everything and throwing your damn 'reputation' to the flames. I know you said you'd handle it, but I can't stand another minute watching Yumi prance around, acting like a princess, while she's trying to strong-arm me into leaving this school!"

He itched to tell her for a moment that it wasn't his reputation at all that he was protecting, that it was something much, much more important….But of course he wasn't going to say that out loud. Instead he raised a brow and asked, "What are you telling me to do?"

"I'm telling you to get a move on!" she shouted, her face blazing darkly. "When are you planning on taking care of your problems?! Because if you haven't noticed, she's starting to become a danger in my life as well!"

But he only half-heard what she said. His gaze had been captured by a certain lavender-haired girl outside the window, walking toward the door, accompanied by a dozen men clad in black. He was sure they were headed into the room, and those long, silver batons they were carrying couldn't be good news….

He cursed aloud and briefly heard Akako's indignant "excuse me?!" before grabbing onto her wrist and pulling her into a remote corner of the room.

"Hey—!" She tugged back at her wrist.

"She's coming," he said hurriedly, and he saw the realization flit across her features. He shoved her down behind a desk, hoping that it proved a sufficient hiding place. "Stay here," he ordered, not leaving her any time to protest as he leapt several steps forward back to his previous spot by the door. He prayed fervently that Akako would have the sense not to do anything reckless, anything that would put her in danger—

Then the double doors flew open, and standing in place of them was Yumi surrounded by her detail, a triumphant look on her face.

"Hello, Tora-kun," said Yumi sweetly, giving him a small wave.

"Yumi." He greeted her with a nod. He eyed the men beside her nervously. They did not look particularly friendly.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Tora-kun," Yumi began, "I've had a wonderful idea."

Dread seeped into him, but he managed to keep his tone light when he said, "Oh, and what would that be?"

"How about dinner," she said, winking at him. "Just the two of us. Tonight. I know a place in Jingu—"

"Yumi," he cut in at once, raising a hand to stop her, "as — wonderful — as that sounds, I must be honest with you. When I told you to stop pursuing me, I meant it." He paused. "I don't want anything to do with you anymore, do you understand?"

The false smile slid off her face like gelatin. "So, that's your final answer, then, is it?"

"I'm afraid it is."

"Then I hope you won't mind if I settle things right now with your dear Mizuhara…." said Yumi, who was smiling again.

His breath stopped for a moment. His eyes shifted briefly toward the back of the room, where she was hiding….Was it possible that Yumi knew she was here….? But no, Akako had been obediently (and uncharacteristically) silent to this point. He concluded that she must be after something else. The question was, what?

"Now, where is it?" Yumi's voice sliced through the brief silence in the room. She was headed toward the adjacent wall where there was a row of doors, all of them leading to the offices of various members of the student council. His heart quickened as she kicked open each door, one by one, peered inside. None of these doors seemed to be what she'd been looking for and were slammed closed behind her again.

"Ah….here we are…." Yumi said all of a sudden, waving over her bodyguards. He saw that she had happened upon the door to Akako's office, and held out her hand to the her nearest guard, who handed her a long, thin butane lighter.

"What are you doing?" he demanded, alarmed.

"Well, I figured Mizuhara needs a reason to leave this school," Yumi crowed. "Leaving her office in flames might just give her the final push she needs…."

Tora felt a sudden rush of adrenaline and sprang forth, putting himself between Yumi and the office, spreading his arms across the doorway. There wasn't a flicker of doubt in his mind that she was being absolutely serious.

"Don't, Yumi," he warned her.

Yumi put a finger to her chin, pretending to think, and said slowly, "You know, I might just reconsider….if, that is, as president of the student body, you decide to expel her once and for all. Kick her off the council at least. Because she's got to pay for what she's done."

"No," said Tora, smiling. "I have a deal with her, you see…."

"Well then don't get in my way, Tora!" Yumi growled. "You'll only make things more difficult for yourself and for her, too." She attempted to push past him into the office. He stood fast.

"Leave her out of this." Then, unable to help himself, he went on, "It's time you faced the truth. You'll never get what you want. I'm not going to return to you. And do you really think you can persuade her to leave the school like this? Someone like her won't ever give up easily even if you do these annoying things." He lifted his chin slightly and leaned down, making sure his next words were very punctuated, "Besides, when I'm here….you can forget about even laying a finger on her."

There was unmasked fury on Yumi's face. She snapped her fingers and another guard came forward, this time with a container of gasoline. His eyes widened.

Without thinking, he quickly snatched the lighter out of Yumi's hand and sprinted to the double doors of the council room, thinking only that he had to get her away from there, away from the office and away from Akako, who was still in the corner. He waved the lighter teasingly in his hand, smirking.

"You—!" Yumi was facing him, her face beet red now. But then she made a sharp gesture to her bodyguards, "Quickly, after him!"

The men had drawn out the batons and crowded him in on all sides. He felt a rush of panic, but the smirk stayed on his face as he shed his jacket and threw it to the floor, readying himself.

But before he could react, they came at him, black blurs in his vision as they closed the circle around him. He blocked off their attacks, throwing his arms up in an X to defend himself against their whipping batons. He managed to disarm some, using the lighter as a blunt weapon, his practiced blows and kicks hitting their marks in the ranks of the men. But even so, he knew he was mightily outnumbered, and Yumi must've seen it too, for she shouted from the side,

"Tired of this yet, Tora-kun? Just let go of that girl and I'll make it stop."

He smiled ferociously. "I won't, as long as I'm standing…." he panted, painfully catching his breath. "I won't…."

But the men continued to rush forward, and this time he could do little to stop them from landing a blow. There was already a bruise on his cheek and several others elsewhere on his body; they were too fast, too strong; he was fiercely outmatched. Their batons were pummeling him roughly now, beating the air out of him, and one powerful blow was all it took to knock him to the ground, his shoulder hitting the floor painfully. He couldn't find the strength to get up.

Then a new figure joined the fray out of nowhere, shouting something unintelligible; the men were surprised but regrouped quickly, turning toward the threat.

"Mizuhara," he yelled loudly, terror striking his mind as he recognized her form. "Stay out—!"

But she had somehow wound up right above him with a fierce look in her eyes, and, grabbing him by the elbow, hauled him up from the ground. He felt a sudden rush of gratitude.

"Come on!" she said urgently, tugging, "I can't hold them off for much longer."

And she pulled him headlong into a full sprint, her black hair rippling behind her. They ran past the door, through the hallway and out of another door that led them outside, and the wind was cold, whipping at his face, stinging the fresh wounds on his skin. From farther in the distance, he heard Yumi yelling orders at the men, but so far they were unpursued. Akako heaved him into the infirmary building and locked the door behind her, panting.

"Hey, do you have a death wish or something?!" she demanded, her smoldering gaze piercing him.

"Aren't you….going to thank me?" he muttered weakly, catching his breath. He managed a half-smile at her, smirking. His whole body ached. There was the tangy taste of blood in his mouth, and his bruised knuckles seemed to have lost their ability to move.

She looked incredulous. "Shouldn't you be thanking me? I don't know what you were thinking, putting yourself at risk like that."

Silently he agreed with her. Sometimes he surprised even himself the lengths he would go to.

Akako cleared her throat wryly. "But yeah, thanks for sticking up for me back there. And uh….I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have shouted at you like I did." She looked down at her shoes. Her face was just slightly colored, or perhaps it had been the wind outside. But his eyes were wide again. Of all the things, he certainly hadn't expected her to apologize to him when this whole ordeal was his fault….suddenly he had to look down too, the back of his neck prickling with something like shame.

Then she cleared her throat rather uncomfortably, "I—well, I guess I'd better patch you up now."

"You don't have to. I'm fine."

He made to get up from his seat on the bed, but suddenly she moved in front of him and forced him back down with her hands on his shoulders.

"Oh shut up," she said harshly, and he was pinned immobile by the strength of her glare. The hairs rose on his skin. He was suddenly very aware of the warm pressure of her palms on his shoulders. "Just think of it as payback for last time. You're a mess right now. "

He caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror on the far wall: His hair was disheveled, there was blood under his nose; several cuts had opened on his hands, his face; and the bruise on his cheek was slowly blossoming into an angry red welt. He wanted to protest again, but he couldn't think of what to say; instead he continued to sit silently on the edge of the bed and watched as she moved aside the chair that was in front of him and stood in its place, procuring a first aid kit.

"Lean back a little," she said, and he did, resting on his hands behind him.

She bent down and put a hand on the back of his head, her fingers still cool from being outside. His scalp tingled.

"Try not to move, okay?"

He nodded yes, and she leaned forward, brows creased slightly, having dipped a piece of gauze in antiseptic solution. She was very close to him. The air felt charged all of a sudden with some sort of unnamed energy and he concentrated hard on the wall behind her. Her touch was light as she began to pat away the blood on his face; it stung slightly, and the caustic smell of the solution made his eyes water. When she came in closer to clean a spot on his forehead, there was a draft of a scent in her hair (perhaps it was the shampoo she used?); she smelled a little sharp but also soft, like jasmine.

His breath felt tight. He suppressed an unbidden urge to run his hands through her hair, and across the smoothness of her cheeks, which were a little pink from the cold. He felt himself flush slightly at the thought and quickly cast his gaze elsewhere.

But he couldn't help tracing her every move, watching silently as she took a new piece of gauze, discarded the old bloodied one, and moved back, resting her hand on his shoulder this time. He wished she wouldn't; the gesture made him too conscious of how close they were, how her touch made his spine tingle….He looked up just as she touched a cut on his lower lip, and their eyes met for a split second; she froze, her hand still on his lips with the gauze, and her dark, almost-black eyes wider than they had been a minute ago. His head spun wildly. Then she looked away quickly and the moment was broken, and she continued in silence.

"Okay," she said as she finished wrapping up his bruised knuckles, her smaller hands working around his lightly, like she afraid to cause them any more pain. "That's the best I can do."

He muttered a terse thanks, keeping his face impassive. He felt winded, breathless in a way that he was sure had nothing to do with the fight with the bodyguards earlier. Meanwhile she hadn't moved and was still staring impassively at him, her eyes intense. He couldn't guess what could possibly be going on in her mind.

"I know I'm handsome, thanks," he said thickly, putting on a flicker of a grin. "You don't have to keep staring."

To his immense alarm she continued to drone her gaze into his, and another long moment passed before she said bluntly, "It's just that this is the first time I've ever taken care of anybody besides myself."

He froze. His heart thumped loudly. _Are you taking care of me now?_ Why was it that she had the ability to always catch him off-guard like this, saying things that seemed to come from nowhere? His mind was a mess of words, and for some reason he wanted to say "me too" just then; but he felt that was ridiculous, so he settled instead on, "That's cute."

She glared. "Yeah, count this as the first and the last. You better figure out something soon, Igarashi."

"Don't worry, I have a plan."

 _...to be continued._

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 _Review replies:_

AusllyBeliever: A very late you're welcome for the Christmas update! And yeah haha hopefully that scene has a lot of comic value xD That's one of the things I'm aiming for in this fic :) Thanks!

MistWizard: A very sound description of Yumi...hope you liked this chapter too!

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Thanks for reading and for being patient! Part two of this chapter is on its way.

First draft 06/21/18


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